Bye, Bye Paper

The IRS has announced that they will no longer be sending tax packages to individuals or businesses. Later in the year, they will send a card to taxpayers (ind and business) who prepared their own paper return last year notifying them of the change and telling them how to obtain the forms they need.

Since e-Filing has become so popular, the IRS and state tax authorities have been cutting back on who receives forms and payment vouchers. Earlier this year the IRS announced they would not be sending out coupon books for employment deposits since the payments should be made on-line. A few years ago they stopped sending out individual taxpayer estimate coupons if they used a paid preparer. Not sending out tax books is not a surprise. By cutting out a data entry person, there is less chance of error and money for those employees can be better spend bringing in tax debt.

Besides the use of e-filing, paper and mailing cost is another reason pushing the switch to paper. Last year, Kansas Department of Revenue stopped providing forms to libraries and other public sites and mailing tax books to taxpayers. All forms could be downloaded or ordered from the state. And earlier this year, KDOR started requiring all businesses to make their sales and withholding tax payments on-line. Coupon books will no longer be available.

However, I don't see a move to dump paper notices and correspondence anytime soon. They'll keep printing and mailing those until there is a safe, secure and accurate way to get them to taxpayers.