There’s now just over three weeks until the state tax filing deadline. Many people file their state taxes along with their federal taxes and Iowa Department of Revenue public information officer, Victoria Daniels, says even more are filing their returns electronically this year.
Last year 88-percent of Iowa income tax returns individually, they came in electronically,” Daniels says. “This year if we look at the current statistics, about 92-percent of the returns have come in electronically.” Daniels says the switch to electronic filing has benefited everyone.
“It cost the Department of Revenue — and therefore the state of Iowa taxpayers — a lot less to process returns electronically. To process a paper return costs about $2.26. To process an electronic return take 17 cents, that’s a huge difference,” Daniels says.
She says those due a refund get them back faster when the returns are filed electronically. Daniels says those who still file the old-fashioned way often do it because they feel more comfortable writing a check rather than having payment taken directly from their bank account.
Others may have complicated forms and just feel better having them filed on paper.