TAX NEWS - January 2010

Connecticut Electronic Income Tax Filing Begins January 15

Hartford – The Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (DRS) today announced that electronic filing for 2009 Connecticut income tax returns will begin January 15.

"Taxpayers looking for the fastest and easiest way to get their refund should consider using the state's free and secure electronic Taxpayer Service Center (TSC), or the Fed-State e-file program," DRS Commissioner Richard Nicholson said. It may take less than a week for taxpayers to receive their refunds when they choose to file electronically and select direct deposit.  Further, use of these electronic options eliminates state costs associated with processing paper returns and issuing refund checks.  The TSC can be accessed at www.ct.gov/TSC.

The number of taxpayers who take advantage of electronic filing options increases each year.  During the 2008 Connecticut income tax filing season 1.23 million taxpayers submitted returns electronically. This represents more than 70 percent of the 1.74 million returns filed. 

In an effort to reduce cost, the income tax telephone filing option known as Telefile will be discontinued this year.  The number of taxpayers using this program dropped below 4 percent of the 1.23 million taxpayers who filed electronically last filing season.  The federal Internal Revenue Services and most states that offered a telephone filing option already discontinued the service.  

In addition, DRS was able to reduce costs by decreasing the number of income tax booklets printed and mailed this year by more than 42 percent. The 170,000 booklets were sent to taxpayers who either relied on DRS generated forms or used the Telefile system last filing season.

Commissioner Nicholson said tax forms and information about changes to this year's income tax returns as well as instructions that can help taxpayers get the most benefit when filing a return can be found at the DRS website at www.ct.gov/DRS.