Tax season opens
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[February 04, 2014]
CHICAGO — The Illinois
Department of Revenue has announced that it will start accepting and
processing tax returns filed electronically. Once federal tax
returns have been completed, Illinois taxpayers have several options
for filing their state returns. MyTax Illinois, the Illinois
Department of Revenue's online filing system, walks taxpayers
through all of the options for credits and deductions. This option
is free and available to almost every Illinois taxpayer. It is
available at tax.illinois.gov.
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Taxpayers may also file electronically, either through paid tax preparers or
software designed for 2013 tax year filings. Last year, 80 percent of taxpayers
filed electronically, and many received refunds through direct deposit in about
a week. Taxpayers who would prefer to do so may download the forms they need,
fill them out and mail them to the Department of Revenue through the U.S. Postal
Service."The state of Illinois urges low-income working families and senior
citizens to seek assistance from nonprofit agencies to help them file
electronically and get the biggest refunds to which they are entitled," said
Brian Hamer, director of the Illinois Department of Revenue. "The earned income
tax credit already helps more than 900,000 taxpayers in Illinois, but 20 percent
of eligible families have not applied for the credit. We hope to change that
this year."
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Filing returns electronically has significant benefits for taxpayers. Math
errors are caught before returns are filed, signatures are affixed
electronically and tax preparation programs help to make sure that taxpayers
receive all of the credits and deductions for which they are eligible. This is
particularly helpful to the more than 1 million families eligible for the earned
income credit or education credits.
State taxes filed electronically with instructions to issue direct deposit
refunds are paid very quickly. Taxpayers who don't have a regular bank account
may instead opt to receive their Illinois refund on a debit card that eliminates
check-cashing fees. Once tax returns are filed, taxpayers may go to the
tax.illinois.gov website to track the
processing time of their returns and when they should see their refund.
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Once Illinois taxpayers have received their W-2s, interest and
dividend statements, property tax and mortgage interest payment
information, and other tax reporting information, they should
complete their federal taxes. Then they can file their state taxes.
Taxpayers who received a refund on their Illinois taxes last year
may go to tax.illinois.gov to
obtain an electronic copy of their 1099G, showing the amount of last
year's tax refund that Illinois reports to the IRS.
[Text from
Illinois
Department of Revenue
news release received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information]
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