TECHNOLOGY

Comptroller William Donald Schaefer
used technology to enhance services to
Maryland businesses and individuals in
fiscal year 1999. Record breaking
responses to the features on the
Comptroller's website at
www.marylandtaxes.com validated
Comptroller Schaefer's commitment to
greater use of web communications.

More than 21,000 taxpayers took
advantage of the first-time opportunity
to file their Maryland income tax returns
online from their personal computers.
The total number of electronic returns
filed by taxpayers and tax professionals
exceeded the previous record setting
year by 35 percent. The convenience of
direct deposit was expanded to all
taxpayers expecting refunds, whether
they filed electronically or by paper,
increasing the number of requests more
than 750%. Most e-filers received their
Maryland refunds in their bank accounts
within 48 hours—one of the fastest tax
refund records in the nation.

The agency also witnessed an 86 per-
cent increase in downloaded forms and
a seven-fold gain in the number of online
visitors checking the status of their income
tax refunds. Another popular website
feature included a compilation of
undeliverable state and federal income
tax refunds—the only joint list of its
kind available online in the nation.

Offering convenience. "Electronic filing is a fast, easy and conven-
ient way to get your taxes done," advised Comptroller William
Donald Schaefer at a press conference held at the Life Resources
Center in Baltimore. The high-tech paperless filing option drew 35
percent more customers in 1999 than in the previous filing season.

The Comptroller offered additional
digital communications tools to Mary-
land businesses to make it easier for
companies to operate in Maryland.
More than 3,000 new businesses
registered tax accounts online while
visiting the Comptroller's website at
www.marylandtaxes.com. Retail
merchants in Maryland became the first
in the nation able to go online to verify
tax-exempt sales. Employers were able
to download tax withholding tables.
Other important information on the
website for businesses included financial
reports and state regulations adminis-
tered by the Comptroller's Office.

Tax professionals also welcomed the
Comptroller's new electronic filing
page, with its handy bulletin board and
approved software provider links.

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