IR-2007-59, March 14, 2007
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers to take advantage of Free ob体育, which allows most taxpayers to electronically file their tax returns at no cost through this Web site. Through March 13, almost 2.6 million taxpayers have electronically filed their returns using Free ob体育.
Seventy percent of U.S. taxpayers are eligible for Free ob体育 since they have an adjusted gross income of $52,000 or less. Free ob体育 can only be accessed through this Web site. The program is a partnership between the IRS and the Free ob体育 Alliance, a group of private sector tax preparation companies.
Free ob体育 is part of the IRS e-file program. Through early March, the number of overall e-filed returns increased by about 5 percent. And returns prepared on home computers — which include free file returns — jumped by 8 percent. For the Free ob体育 program alone, nearly 2.6 million taxpayers used the program, about a 4 percent drop from the nearly 2.7 million who used it during the same period last year. While Free ob体育 started out slowly this year, returns in recent weeks are now topping comparable weeks from last year, and the IRS expects the program to equal or surpass last year’s numbers by the end of the filing season.
"Several factors are behind Free ob体育 usage this year. It started out slowly, but the numbers are increasing each week. We believe some Free ob体育 users are switching over to other parts of our e-file program, which continues to grow this year," said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson." Taxpayers shouldn't overlook Free ob体育, because we've made major improvements to the program this year."
The IRS reminds taxpayers that this year's Free ob体育 has major changes from the year before. Gone are sales pitches for refund anticipation loans and other products. Not only that, it's easier to find which Free ob体育 tax software company best suits the taxpayer by using the enhanced "Guide Me to a Company" wizard available on IRS.gov.
Several indicators show customer satisfaction for Free ob体育 continues to be high. One such indicator, the number of customer service inquiries, occurs on less than 1/10th of 1 percent of total Free ob体育 returns.
Taxpayers have consistently given high marks to Free ob体育 in satisfaction surveys. According to Russell Research, a market research firm contracted by the IRS, 96 percent said they found Free ob体育 very easy or somewhat easy to use, and 97 percent said they would recommend Free ob体育 to others. Convenience, not the free cost, was the most appealing factor of Free ob体育.
Accessing Free ob体育 is easy. Just go to our home page, click "2007 Free ob体育" and click "Start Now" on the Free ob体育 landing page. Taxpayers will see the "Guide Me to a Company" button. When they click it, the wizard will ask a few questions to determine which of the 20 participating tax software companies best fulfill the taxpayer's needs, such as the ability to file state returns in the taxpayer's state.
Taxpayers can use Free ob体育 to take advantage of recent tax changes. For example, users can request their telephone excise tax refund through Free ob体育. This refund is only available this year. Taxpayers can also try one of the IRS's newest features: split refunds. It allows taxpayers to directly deposit their refunds in up to three financial accounts.
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