COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Purchase Obligations

We have contractual obligations related to service arrangements with suppliers for fixed or minimum amounts. Future minimum payments at December 31, 2020 for purchase obligations were as follows (in thousands):


Year ending December 31:
2021	$	292,865
2022	181,486
2023	108,610
2024	75,981
2025	93,523
2026 and thereafter	527,500
Total future minimum payments	$	1,279,965

During the year ended December 31, 2020, we entered into a new agreement to acquire software and related services, of which $97.6 million was financed utilizing a two-year vendor financing arrangement.

Legal Matters

We are party to a number of claims and lawsuits incidental to our business. In our opinion, the liabilities, if any, which may ultimately result from the outcome of such matters, individually or in the aggregate, are not expected to have a material adverse effect on our financial position, liquidity, results of operations or cash flows.

On September 23, 2019, a jury in the Superior Court of Dekalb County Georgia, awarded Frontline Processing Corp. ("Frontline") $135.2 million in damages, costs and attorney's fees (plus interest) following a trial of a breach of contract dispute between Frontline and Global Payments, wherein Frontline alleged that Global Payments violated provisions of the parties' Referral Agreement and Master Services Agreement. The Superior Court entered a final judgment on the verdict in favor of Frontline on September 30, 2019. We believe the jury verdict is in error and Frontline’s case is completely without merit, and we have appealed the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Our appeal is pending. While it is reasonably possible that we will incur some loss between zero and the judgment amount plus interest, we have determined that it is not probable that Global Payments has incurred a loss under the applicable accounting standard (ASC Topic 450, Contingencies) as of December 31, 2020. As a result, we have not recorded a liability on the consolidated balance sheet with respect to this litigation.

Operating Taxes

We are subject to certain taxes that are not derived based on earnings (e.g., sales, gross receipts, property, value-added and other business taxes). During the course of operations, we must interpret the meaning of various operating tax regulations in the United States and in the foreign jurisdictions in which we do business. Taxing authorities in those various jurisdictions may arrive at different interpretations of applicable tax laws and regulations which could result in the payment of additional taxes in those jurisdictions.

BIN/ICA Agreements

We have entered into sponsorship or depository and processing agreements with certain banks. These agreements allow us to use the banks' identification numbers, referred to as Bank Identification Number ("BIN") for Visa transactions and an Interbank Card Association ("ICA") number for Mastercard transactions, to clear credit card transactions through Visa and Mastercard. Certain of these agreements contain financial covenants, and we were in compliance with all such covenants as of December 31, 2020.