{"id":1641,"date":"2016-02-02T10:59:40","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T19:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"\/the-benefits-of-filing-your-taxes-online"},"modified":"2025-02-07T08:24:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T16:24:46","slug":"the-benefits-of-filing-your-taxes-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/the-benefits-of-filing-your-taxes-online\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Filing Your Taxes Online"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Why You Should E-File This Year<\/h3>\n<p>There are many benefits to filing your taxes online (also called \u201celectronic filing\u201d or \u201ce-file\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>Once you are familiar with the advantages of e-file, there is a good chance that you will put down the pen and paper forever. Here are some of the biggest advantages of electronic filing:<\/p>\n<h3>Filing Online Helps Track &amp; Organize Your Tax Records<\/h3>\n<p>When you\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/file-taxes-online\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">file your taxes online<\/a>, you are creating a permanent electronic record for your reference in the future. If a question comes up about your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/topics\/federal-tax-returns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax return<\/a>, you will not have to dig through filing cabinets or giant stacks of paper. Instead, you can pull up your information on your computer and get to work right away.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&gt;&gt;\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/file-taxes-online\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Start Your Free E-file<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Get a Bigger Tax Refund With E-File<\/h3>\n<p>While you may have to pay a fee to file your taxes electronically, in the end you could very well make this money back (plus more). Most people find that filing their taxes online gives them the chance to take advantage of more\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/topics\/tax-credits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax credits<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/topics\/tax-deductions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax deductions<\/a>. This is because many\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/topics\/tax-preparation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax preparation<\/a>\u00a0programs will inform you about potential tax benefits you\u2019re eligible for as it helps you file your return. In turn, you may receive a larger\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/topics\/tax-refunds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax refund<\/a>\u00a0or end up owing less money.<\/p>\n<h3>Electronic Filing Means Greater Accuracy<\/h3>\n<p>It should go without saying, but you need to make sure that your tax return is 100% accurate. When you file online this is often much easier to do. Online filing takes much of the guesswork out of the tax return process \u2013 most software programs do the math calculations for you. You won\u2019t have to worry about which\u00a0tax forms\u00a0you need or what step to take next because the tax software will show you the way.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/articles\/how-to-file-your-federal-income-tax-return\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to File Your Federal Income Tax Return<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>E-File Saves You Time<\/h3>\n<p>The last thing most people want to do is spend days or weeks sifting through papers to file their income tax return. When you opt to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/file-taxes-online\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">file your taxes online<\/a>, it speeds up the whole tax preparation and filing process \u2013 plus, the IRS will process your tax return (and tax refund) faster.<\/p>\n<h3>File Online for a Faster Tax Refund<\/h3>\n<p>Are you expecting a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/articles\/federal-tax-refund-status-check\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax refund<\/a>\u00a0from the IRS? If so, filing your taxes online ensures that you will receive your money as soon as possible. With an online tax filing program, using the \u201cDirect Deposit\u201d option will allow you to receive your refund within 3 weeks or less (in most cases). Your tax refund will be deposited directly in your bank account so you can use that money immediately.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/articles\/things-that-can-delay-your-tax-refund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Things That Can Delay Your Tax Refund<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are many advantages to filing taxes online. With all of these benefits in mind, it is hard to imagine that anybody would want to file using paper tax forms.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/file-taxes-online\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>&gt;&gt; View Your E-file Options<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why You Should E-File This Year There are many benefits to filing your taxes online (also called \u201celectronic filing\u201d or \u201ce-file\u201d). Once you are familiar with the advantages of e-file, there is a good chance that you will put down the pen and paper forever. Here are some of the biggest advantages of electronic filing: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,30,36,35,31,157,12],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-1641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-filing-taxes","category-federal-tax-returns","category-past-tax-returns","category-state-tax-returns","category-tax-deductions","category-tax-filing","category-tax-preparation","tag-efile"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1641"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8563,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions\/8563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}