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Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO)

Making Payments

How to Make Payments for a Plant Variety Certificate

Plant variety protection is used by plant breeders as an important marketing tool that protects their 

innovation. The AMS Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) provides intellectual property rights protection 

to breeders of varieties of seed propagated and asexually reproduced plants that are new, distinct, 

uniform, and stable. Based on the Plant Variety Protection Act and in compliance with the International 

Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), we examine new variety characteristics in order 

to grant certificates that protect varieties for 20 years (25 years for woody vines and trees).

Application Fees

The total cost of protection is $5,150.

This price includes $4,382 for the application and examination and $768 for the certificate fee. These fees 

are subject to change. A complete list of itemized fees is provided on our website: 

https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/plant-variety-protection/pvpo-services-and-fees

Fees and charges shall be paid at the time of making application or at the time of submitting a request for 

any action by the office for which a fee or charge is payable and established. Make checks and money 

orders payable to "Treasurer of the United States.” We also accept electronic payments.

Pay.Gov is the most efficient and effective way to make payments. Pay.gov can be accessed directly from 

the Internet or from the ePVP system.
Agricultural Marketing Service

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

January 2023 | www.ams.usda.gov/services/plant-variety-protection

Payment Options

Fees can be paid by using:

• The ePVP System after an application has been entered, applicant must have an e-authenticated 

username and password

• Pay.gov (accepts major credit cards such as VISA, American Express, Discover, or Master Card) An eauthenticated account is not required

• Check or money order payable to the "Treasurer of the United States" which is mailed to the PVPO

Electronic Plant Variety Protection System (ePVP)

Serves to provide applicants with an easier method to filing applications, track the status of an application, 

respond to requests from the PVPO, search for applications, and make payments.

Please note that a user must have an e-Authenticated account to access the ePVP System. More 

information on the ePVP System is available on the US PVPO Application Process informational sheet on 

the PVPO website, see web link at the bottom of this page.

Using Pay.gov

To make a payment for PVP services via ACH bank account, Amazon account, PayPal, Debit or Credit Card, 

please use Pay.gov. The pay.gov system can be accessed from within the ePVP System by clicking on the 

“Pay Fees” tab from the “Main” menu screen.

Payments can be made directly at www.pay.gov. When navigating to this system click on “Find an Agency” 

and select “Agriculture (USDA): Ag Mkt Service (AMS) Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO).

PVPO Services and Fees

Service Fee

Application Initial fee for filing, examination, and certificate issuance (due at 

time of filing) $5,150.00

Submission of new application data prior to issuance of certificate $432.00

Granting extensions for responding to data requests $89.00

Refunds pursuant to § 97.178 may be issued for portions of the initial application fee -

Examination Refund $3,864

Certificate Issuance Refund $768

Reconsideration of application $589.00

Revival of an abandoned application $518.00

Filing a petition for protest to Commissioner $4,118.00

Appeal to Secretary (refundable if appeal overturns protest to Commissioner) $4,942.00

Visit our fees page for more information

Contact Information

Email: PVPOmail@usda.gov