Swifter refunds and better customer service are allegedly in store for Americans as the IRS cuts out the paperwork.
The federal tax collector announced it was launching an initiative to shift to paperless processing of all major tax forms by 2025. The agency claimed taxpayers will benefit from a less laborious experience when filing taxes and will get their refunds quicker.
“IRS paperless processing initiative will eliminate up to 200 million pieces of paper annually, cut processing times in half, and expedite refunds by several weeks,” a news release stated.
The challenges of the paper-based system were multifold. For instance, taxpayers have been faced with frustrating delays caused by having to communicate with IRS authorities by mail.
“The IRS receives about 76 million paper tax returns and forms, and 125 million pieces of correspondence, notice responses, and non-tax forms each year, and its limited capability to accept these forms digitally or digitize paper it receives has prevented the IRS from delivering the world-class service taxpayers deserve,” the news released explained.
The storage of all that paperwork has also come at a sizeable expense to taxpayers, with the IRS currently storing over 1 billion historical documents at an annual cost of $40 million.
Still, the IRS will not be going 100% paperless all at once. Instead, it will do so in phases.
For the 2024 tax season, the tax agency estimates that 94% of individual taxpayers will eliminate postal communication with the IRS once the program starts next year, according to the news release.
At least 20 of the most used non-tax forms will join the standard 1040 form in being available to tax filers in digital formats, including amendments to forms 940, 941, 941-SS, and 941 (PR).
By the 2025 tax season, all paperwork received by mail or fax will allegedly be instantly digitized. Optical scanners will capture taxpayer information and automatically upload it to the corresponding IRS account.
There have been other changes afoot at the IRS. For instance, the agency recently ended its controversial practice of sending collection agents to make unannounced visits to homes or businesses to resolve unpaid tax issues, as reported by The Dallas Express.
