The Internal Revenue Service recently issued Factsheet 2023-18, which launches its new paperless processing initiative.
According to the Factsheet, taxpayers will have the option of going paperless for IRS correspondence by the 2024 filing season, and the IRS hopes to achieve paperless processing for all tax returns by filing season 2025. The IRS plans to digitize all paper-filed returns when received.
The IRS notes in the Factsheet that paper-based processes have created challenges in that taxpayers can’t digitally submit many forms and correspondence beyond their annual 1040 tax returns, and the IRS can’t digitally process paper tax returns it receives.
Taxpayers have had to respond to notices for things like document verification through the mail, and IRS employees had to manually enter numbers from paper returns into computers one digit at a time, creating significant delays for taxpayers and challenges for IRS staff.
It’s hoped that paperless processing will lead to certain improvements, including the elimination of errors resulting from manually inputting data from paper returns and the ability of the IRS customer service to use the digitized returns to quickly and accurately answer taxpayer questions and resolve issues. In addition, the Factsheet states that with an improved data platform, it will be able to implement advanced analytics and pattern recognition methods to pursue cases against wealthy individuals and large corporations that use complex structures to evade paying taxes.