Tax filing was far more cumbersome before e-filing. Paper forms had to be obtained, filed and posted. Once they were submitted, taxpayers were at the mercy of the postal service to trust that their returns were received without incident. That changed after the IRS introduced efiling. Now, you can send your return within seconds; you know when it’s being processed and when to expect your tax refund.

According to the IRS, “Last year, nearly 120 million taxpayers opted for the safest, fastest and easiest way to submit their individual tax returns — IRS e-file. Since 1990, taxpayers have e-filed more than 1 billion Form 1040 series tax returns safely and securely. With Free File, everyone can file Form 1040 series tax returns for free!”

There’s various tax return preparation software available in the market. The IRS also suggests certain trusted software that taxpayers can use for preparing their returns. Since the advent of electronic filing, there have been fewer reported errors on returns.

Given that electronically filed tax returns are processed much faster by the IRS, taxpayers receive their refunds faster too. Along with return processing, the IRS also uses sophisticated technology to spot fraudulent tax returns. With these improvements, tax filing, processing and issuing of refunds has become much faster and more secure.