According to a recent IRS news release, the number of federal income tax returns that were filed electronically is up 12% from last year. So far over 86 million individual tax returns have been e-filed for the 2008 tax season. This means that about 60% of all the returns were filed electronically. By comparison, in 2007 just less than 80 million returns were e-filed electronically.
“The IRS has made great strides in harnessing the power of technology to do its work more efficiently,” claims IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “The growth in electronic services helped the IRS deliver a strong filing season for the nation’s taxpayers in 2008. The increase in e-file, particularly in the final weeks of the filing season, shows that taxpayers are continuing to recognize the benefits of filing electronically.”
However, part of the growth in e-file comes from those taxpayers who were only required to file tax returns this year to claim their federal economic stimulus payments.