E-Filing Surges

Electronic income-tax return filing rose in 2007 over the year before, the IRS said, surging as the April filing deadline approached. Late filers often owe the government money and tend to favor slower paper forms, the IRS said. But by early April, e-filed returns were up 6.2% over the same point in 2006. The biggest growth was in self-prepared returns, up 8.4% over the prior year. Earlier, the IRS Oversight Board analyzed what it called weak e-filing during 2006, when self-prepared e-filing of individual returns declined. In its report, the board said it planned to reassess the 2006 “setback” after comparing this year’s results.