IR-2007-164, Oct. 4, 2007
WASHINGTON ¨C The Internal Revenue Service announced today that more than 800,000 of the nation¡¯s small businesses and large corporations have electronically filed their tax returns so far this year, a 60 percent increase from last year.
Even though they have no electronic filing requirement, more than 780,000 small businesses have opted to e-file their tax returns this year, up more than 50 percent from last year.
Many large corporations are voluntarily e-filing as well. The more than 42,000 large corporations that e-filed far exceeded the approximately 22,000 that were required to file by the Sept. 17 deadline.
¡°This is a record-breaking year for electronically filed returns by corporations and businesses,¡± said Acting IRS Commissioner Linda Stiff. ¡°We will continue to work with the business community, tax practitioners and the software industry to improve this important program.¡±
Starting in 2006, certain corporations with assets of more than $50 million were required to file their Form 1120 and 1120-S electronically. Approximately 15,500 of these corporations filed their returns electronically last year. Starting in 2007, certain corporations with assets of more than $10 million were required to file electronically.
¡°Corporations of all sizes are seeing the long range advantages of integrating their tax filing in an electronic environment along with their tax and financial accounting,¡± said IRS Treaty Administration Director Elvin Hedgpeth, who led the implementation of e-filing for large corporations. ¡°While large and mid-size corporations are required to e-file, many small corporations are seeing the advantages of e-filing voluntarily.¡±
The collaboration with corporate practitioner, software development and technology stakeholder groups has facilitated the growth in corporate e-filing,¡± Hedgpeth went on to say. ¡°Software and e-filing support services have become readily available to all corporations that want to transition their tax filing from paper to electronic,¡± he said.