The Oklahoma Tax Commission eFile Option "Green" Savings

Oklahomans have been able to eFile their income tax returns beginning with the 1994 filing year.  When eFile initially launched the Oklahoma Tax Commission received 61,500 returns—which was four percent of the returns filed that year. Since that time the program has grown tremendously.  In 2008 56% of the individual income tax returns, or 934,254 of the 1.7 million returns, were filed electronically. 

Other “Green” savings included: 

• eFile has been live since the 1994 tax year—which would be taxes filed in 1995.  Since that time, more than 6.5 million returns have been filed electronically. From January 2007 through December 2008, 1.75 million returns were electronically filed. 

• The average number of pages received from a taxpayer filing an individual income tax return (Oklahoma Form 511) is 9.

• Many other benefits can be seen for the Oklahoma Tax Commission as a result of the taxpayers filing their taxes electronically.  Some of these include a reduction in the amount of storage and retention space needed for the paper returns.  Also, the chemicals used during the microfilming/imaging process is reduced which leads to fewer pieces of equipment needed to process such massive amounts of paper.  The labor force that is also required to process income tax returns is in turn reduced.  The benefits to the agency as well as the state of Oklahoma has not only been monetarily beneficial, but also these reductions impact the carbon footprint of the agency as heating and cooling of the building and machinery has been reduced through the online filing process.

Learn more about the Oklahoma Tax Commission at http://www.tax.ok.gov