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Recommendation: Require Electronic Filing
Posted by The Feds on June 30, 2008
Every year, the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) presents recommendations tax process improvements to Congress in June. The 14-member ETAAC provides an organized public forum for discussion of electronic tax administration issues and the overriding goal that paperless filing should be the preferred and most-convenient method of filing tax and information returns.
In its recommendation, the ETAAC explains that many professional tax accountants who file tax forms on behalf of clients still do so by paper, and will not electronically file unless mandated to do so. Therefore, the committee is repeating its 2007 recommendation that Congress empower the IRS to require paid preparers who, using tax software, prepare more than fifty individual returns per year to file all returns electronically. This requirement should be buffered by allowing waivers, minimum penalties for non-compliance, and appropriate opt-out provisions.
ETAAC Annual Report to Congress, June 19, 2008.
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One Response to “Recommendation: Require Electronic Filing”
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I am a retired accountant/tax preparer and the majority of the CPA firms and tax professionals that I have dealt with have been using electronic filing as early as around 1992 or 1993. Of course the filing fees are passed along to the client. The only paper returns generated was a copy for the client and a copy for the files. Obviously I don’t know how the ETAAC compiled their information; personally, I wouldn’t take their analysis as gospel. Thank you so much.