NEWS RELEASE

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

Public Affairs Office

Contact: Danny Brazell

Phone: (803) 898-5464

Email: brazeld@sctax.org

For Immediate Release: April 20, 2005

Electronic Filing Tops One Million

More than a million South Carolina taxpayers have filed their state return electronically this year, meaning half of the anticipated number of state tax returns the South Carolina Department of Revenue will receive this year will have been transmitted by computer.

As of Monday (April 18), 1,018,640 taxpayers have filed their state income tax return electronically. That number is a new e-file high-water mark for the department and currently represents 66% of the tax returns processed. While the percentage will drop as more paper returns are processed, the department fully expects that electronically-filed returns will equal more than half of the 2 million to 2.1 million returns expected this year.    

The number of electronically-filed returns also will continue to climb because electronic filers have until May 2 to file their state return. To encourage taxpayers to try e-filing, the Department grants an extension each year to anyone who wants to file electronically, even if they owe the state taxes. Last year, more than 72,000 taxpayers took advantage of the 14-day extended deadline for e-filers.

In 1991, South Carolina became the first state in the nation to offer its taxpayers joint federal and state electronic filing and for the past 14 years has remained one of the top three states in the nation in the percentage of taxpayers filing electronically.

###