The number of small and large businesses that electronically filed their returns leaped 60 percent this year to more than 800,000, the Internal Revenue Service said.
The IRS requires only very large corporations to e-file, but many other business are choosing to do so. More than 780,000 small businesses e-filed their tax returns this year, up more than 50 percent from last year.
Many large corporations are voluntarily e-filing, tool, the IRS said. More than 42,000 large corporations filed electronically by the Sept. 17 deadline although only 22,000 were required to do so.
“This is a record-breaking year for electronically filed returns by corporations and businesses,” said Linda Stiff acting IRS commissioner. “We will continue to work with the business community, tax practitioners and the software industry to improve this important program.”
Starting in 2006, corporations with assets of more than $50 million were required to file Form 1120 and 1120-S electronically. Approximately 15,500 of these corporations filed their returns electronically last year. Starting in 2007, corporations with assets of more than $10 million were required to file electronically.
Besides corporate e-filing, IRS plans in 2009 to start migrating its family of 1040 individual tax forms to the online Modernized e-File platform from the older Electronic Management System, the 1040 platform since 1994, the IRS has said previously.
“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. The collaboration with corporate practitioner, software development and technology stakeholder groups has encouraged the growth in corporate e-filing, Hedgpeth said.
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