The beginning of April means the federal tax filing deadline is now two weeks away, but there are still four weeks left until you have to file your state returns. Iowa Department of Revenue spokesperson, Reney Mulvey, says they’ve received over 860,000 state returns already.

She says they still expect 600,000 additional returns, and they want you to file electronically. Mulvey says you can go to their website and find out how to file your taxes for free and then you can file your state returns on April 15th with your federal returns. Mulvey says most people do file the state returns at the federal deadline.

Mulvey says they will get a chunk of returns by April 15th, or shortly after if they are mailed. Mulvey says Iowa has a good history of e-filing and it looks that way this year. Last year 74% of all returns were e-filed and it looks that way again this year. Mulvey says some 800,000 of the returns already in were filed electronically. She says many Iowans are getting a little more money back.

She says the average refund is up almost $14  for an average of almost $475- per refund. Mulvey says budget cuts have left them with less staff to work on paper returns, and if you don’t file electronically, it will take you longer to get the refund.