Tax Man

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April 3, 2007 By Adam Stone

the states and their departments of revenue, we are very eager to talk about [states'] participation in the future," Stevens said.

But there have been the usual stutters on the way to implementation.

"Obviously there are a lot of things you don't anticipate when you first launch a project," Stevens said.

Illinois' tax deadline is 6 p.m., but the federal government has an 8 p.m. cutoff. After a brief moment of head-scratching, planners decided to go with the later federal deadline.

"Illinois graciously acceded to our cutoff time, since it was in the benefit of the taxpayers to give them a few extra hours," Stevens said.

In terms of end users, the business community proved the most likely candidate. Though individuals file tax returns, employers, in effect, pay the majority of individual taxes through withholdings. Thus, planners knew they could take the biggest bite by targeting their efforts to the business community.

Planners say increased electronic processing will make taxpaying more efficient for the taxpayer and less expensive for state and federal agencies handling the money. Of equal importance is the fact that with an electronic payment, a taxpayer is that much more apt to getting it right.

"By paying your taxes electronically, you are 30 times less likely to make a mistake," Stevens said. "There is just so much that can go wrong with a piece of paper."

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