Electronically Filed Returns Up More Than 5 Percent

The Internal Revenue Service announced today that taxpayers are continuing to electronically file their tax returns at a record pace, up more than 5 percent from the same period last year.

“Taxpayers are filing electronically at a record pace this year,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “We encourage people to consider e-file and Free File as the tax deadline approaches. E-file reduces taxpayer errors and gets refunds back quickly.”

According to the new filing season statistics for the week ending March 16, 2007, one of the biggest areas of growth is in returns filed electronically from home. Self-prepared e-filed returns have grown more than 8 percent from last year. E-filed returns from tax professionals have climbed more than 4 percent.

So far this tax filing season, 73 percent of all returns have been e-filed, compared to 70 percent for the same period last year. As of last Friday, 29 percent of e-filed returns were filed by people using their home computers, up from 28 percent of e-filed returns for the same period last year. Read more at irs.gov.