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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Purchase Obligations
 
We have contractual obligations related to service arrangements with suppliers for fixed or minimum amounts. Future minimum payments at December 31, 2021 for purchase obligations were as follows (in thousands):
Year ending December 31:
2022$497,436 
2023239,021 
2024152,084 
2025169,788 
2026201,661 
2027 and thereafter785,128 
   Total future minimum payments$2,045,118 

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 appealed the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals. On June 30, 2021, a panel of the Georgia Court of Appeals unanimously reversed the judgment, including the entire damages award. On January 11, 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Frontline’s petition for writ of certiorari and the case has been remanded back to the trial court. We previously determined that it was not probable that a loss had been incurred under the applicable accounting standard (ASC Topic 450, Contingencies); therefore, the reversal of the judgment did not affect our consolidated financial statements.
 
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. We are subject to ongoing audits in certain jurisdictions, and 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, 2021.