Today is the last day to file taxes, and many people in Athens, with the help of the Internal Revenue Service, are filing their taxes electronically.
Free File, a new program offered by the IRS, is making it even easier for people to file taxes online, said spokesman Chris Kerns. The organization has teamed up with software processors to create links for taxpayers to electronically file their federal taxes for free if they fit certain qualifications. About 70 million people are eligible in the United States to file through the Web site (http://www.irs.gov).
All electronic filing, not just Free File, has been increasing every year. Last year 47 million people electronically filed, Kerns said, and this year 57 million are expected out of 130 million taxpayers.
The increase in numbers may be because of the many advantages to electronically filing taxes, Kerns said. These returns also are easier to store and retrieve because they take up less space and making copies of old returns is easier if they are on a disk.
Also, even last minute filers can expect to get their refunds much faster with electronic filing, Kerns said. Eighty percent of all people who file federal taxes get a refund, but if they file electronically it only takes 10 days at most, compared with 40 days for a paper return.
Many local tax filing services have begun to use electronic filing because of an increased demand from customers for the easy filing process.
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Jayne Gest
