Advantages to Filing Electronically
The IRS still accepts mail in income tax return forms. There has been, however, a large exodus away from the practice of filing by hand and mailing the return in. Last year 92 million people filed their taxes electronically. The IRS itself may have been responsible for speeding this migration along with their phasing out of the traditional method, however, the advantages of filing electronically must be given credence.
One of the advantages is the speed in which the refund is received. The refund is quicker for a number of reasons: there is no downtime between when the return is dropped in the mail and when the IRS actually receives it, the review process is sped up due to its digitization and accessibility. The bank account information of the taxpayer can also be added in for the purposes of direct deposit.
The electronic return has also proven to be more accurate. The return is double checked for simple and common human errors prior to its distribution. The taxpayers who file paper returns have about a 19% chance of error higher than those who file electronically.
Filing electronically is also easier and cheaper. The math is all done for you, the steps are broken down and the jargon of the original form is explained. All the taxpayer needs to do is answer questions and plug in required numbers. If the taxpayer makes less than $57,000 for their adjusted gross income, they can use the Free File to prepare and file their income tax return.