Electronic filing

Gracia Carr of
the State
Comptroller's
Office could
fit all of the
123,000 paper
returns stored
nearby -
equal to the
number filed
electronically
during fiscal
year 1996-
on just a
handful of
optical disks.

More taxpayers chose to have their Maryland personal
income tax returns filed electronically in fiscal year 1996 than
ever before - saving time and money for everyone.

The 123,000 returns transmitted electronically to the
State Comptroller's Office through qualified, commercial tax
preparers marked a 25% increase over the previous year's
total.

In most cases, refund checks are printed within 24
hours of receiving a valid electronic return.

Since processing electronic returns costs one-fifth as
much as it does for paper returns, the state saves thousands
of tax dollars - and storage space - using cyberspace for tax
filings.

Aside from speedy refunds and cost efficiency, elec-
tronic filing also provides unparalled accuracy. The informa-
tion on the return is verified immediately, so there's no
chance of errors to delay processing.

In 1996, for the first time, taxpayers could file both their
federal and Maryland returns with a single electronic trans-
mission, thanks to a "piggyback" program implemented by
the State Comptroller's Office and the Internal Revenue
Service. Moreover, taxpayers with balance due returns could
file electronically for the first time in fiscal year 1996 - avoid-
ing guesswork about how much they owed and the surprise
of a tax bill arriving weeks later in the mail.

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