Paperless Processing For All Tax Returns By Filing Season 2025

The Internal Revenue Service has launched an ambitious plan to ensure that by Filing Season 2024, taxpayers in the country will be able to go paperless if they choose to do so.

IRS has also announced that by Filing Season 2025, it will achieve paperless processing digitizing all paper-filed returns when received. In effect, this means all paper will be converted into digital form as soon as it arrives at the IRS.

IRS Paperless Processing Initiative will eliminate up to 200 million pieces of paper annually, cut processing times in half, and expedite refunds by several weeks, the U.S. Department of Treasury said in a press release Wednesday.

Paper-based processes have long hampered the IRS and frustrated taxpayers. Taxpayers are unable to digitally submit many forms and correspondence beyond their annual 1040 tax return, and the IRS is unable to digitally process paper tax returns it receives. For decades, taxpayers had to respond to notices for things like document verification through the mail, and IRS employees had to manually enter numbers from paper returns into computers one digit at a time, creating significant delays for taxpayers and challenges for IRS staff.

According to the Treasury, from the next Filing Season, taxpayers will be able to digitally submit all correspondence, non-tax forms, and responses to notices. As as a result, the IRS estimates that more than 94 percent of individual taxpayers will no longer need to send mail to it. Taxpayers use non-tax forms to request or submit information on a range of topics, including identity theft and proof that they are eligible for key credits and deductions to help low-income households. Achieving this milestone will enable up to 125 million paper documents to be submitted digitally per year.

The Treasury Department has made it clear that taxpayers who want to submit paper returns and correspondence can continue to do so.

Taxpayers will be able to e-File 20 additional tax forms. Achieving this milestone will enable up to 4 million additional tax documents to be filed digitally every year. This includes amendments to Forms 940, 941, and 941SSPR, which are some of the most common forms taxpayers file when amending returns.

By Filing Season 2025, IRS plans to make an additional 150 of the most used non-tax forms available in digital, mobile friendly formats. An estimated 15 percent of Americans rely solely on mobile phones for their Internet access, and making forms available in mobile-friendly formats is key to serving these taxpayers.

IRS said it will digitally process all paper-filed tax and information returns. Achieving this milestone is expected to enable up to 76 million paper documents to be processed digitally every year, improving service, cutting processing times in half, and expediting taxpayer refunds by several weeks.

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