Tuvia,

I agree that "direct debit" makes sense for utilities, telephony and other regular variable bills. In the UK the IRS also receives sales tax via this means: you file your VAT return and they debit the account. In Australasia, tax and many other bills are "push" paid electronically. The electronic transaction generally includes a reference and description field, with your tax ID and/or invoice number expected in the reference. Trademe, the Australasian equivalent of Ebay, relies substantially on quick electronic payment into the seller's account, iow not via Paypal or some other intermediary. I have not written a check for many, many years- it's cheaper and simpler to make electronic payment or to use a credit card with full balance payment also debited automatically once a month.