"Survey Says: E-Filing Not Without New Costs"

By AccountingWEB.com: With the first year of mandatory tax return filing complete, a survey shows what the accounting industry suspected – affected companies had to make some investments to comply with the new IRS mandate.

“There is no question that the first year of mandated corporate e-filing was a success, but as we predicted, it did require an additional investment in staff, technology, and time to transition to the new system,” said Michael Dolan, director of IRS policies and dispute resolution in the Washington National Tax practice of KPMG.

The survey was conducted by the Tax Executives Institute and KPMG LLP to gather data on the first year of the new requirements for electronic filing. Companies with assets of $50 million or more and those that file at least 250 returns annually, were required to file their 2005 taxes online by September 15, 2006.

The survey, conducted at a TEI conference in October, covered 101 corporate tax executives. Of the companies represented, 88 percent expended additional staff time and capital outlay to e-file their tax returns. Within that group, 40 percent categorized the increase as “substantial,” while 48 percent described it as “modest.”

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Source: accountingweb, 1 December 2006. © Copyright 2006 - All Rights Reserved.