The state of Iowa is saving thousands of dollars in printing and postage costs because Iowans who “e-file” their income tax returns no longer receive a tax booklet in the mail. Renee Mulvey of the Iowa Department of Revenue says more and more Iowans are growing comfortable with e-commerce and the idea of doing their taxes electronically. Mulvey says for two years in a row, Iowa has been number one in the nation for percentage of income tax returns that’re filed electronically. Still, just over half a MILLION Iowans who’ve not filed electronically will be getting tax booklets in the mail today or next week. Mulvey says in tax year 2000, the state mailed about one MILLION tax booklets, so there has been an impressive reduction. And that saves printing and postage. Mulvey says e-filed returns save tax dollars, too, because it costs more for the state to process a mailed-in, paper return. In tax year 1994, about 42,000 Iowans filed their state income taxes electronically. Last year, nearly 700,000 did — a 16-fold increase. Mulvey says in the past couple of years, the state has streamlined the booklets it prints.The state prints just one rather than two booklets, saving a lot. Overall, the state is spending about $141,000 less this December to print and mail out tax booklets than it did three years ago.
