IRS Launches Paperless Processing Initiative

"Taxpayers will have the option to go paperless for IRS correspondence by 2024 Filing Season, IRS to achieve paperless processing for all tax returns by Filing Season 2025.

IRS Paperless Processing Initiative will eliminate up to 200 million pieces of paper annually, cut processing times in half, and expedite refunds by several weeks.

Paper-based processes have long hampered the IRS and frustrated taxpayers. The challenges created by paper are two-fold: Taxpayers are unable to digitally submit many forms and correspondence beyond their annual 1040 tax return, and the IRS is unable to digitally process paper tax returns it receives. For decades, taxpayers had to respond to notices for things like document verification through the mail, and IRS employees had to manually enter numbers from paper returns into computers one digit at a time, creating significant delays for taxpayers and challenges for IRS staff.

The IRS receives about 76 million paper tax returns and forms, and 125 million pieces of correspondence, notice responses, and non-tax forms each year, and its limited capability to accept these forms digitally or digitize paper it receives has prevented the IRS from delivering the world-class service taxpayers deserve. The IRS also has more than 1 billion historical documents, which costs $40 million per year to store.

Thanks to Inflation Reduction Act resources, taxpayers are now able to respond to more notices online, and the IRS has made significant progress adopting new technology that automates the scanning of millions of paper returns. As the next phase of its modernization, the IRS is accelerating paperless processing efforts. Using IRA resources, the IRS is launching an ambitious plan to ensure that by Filing Season 2024, taxpayers will be able to go paperless if they choose to do so, and by Filing Season 2025, the IRS will achieve paperless processing digitizing all paper-filed returns when received. In effect, this means all paper will be converted into digital form as soon as it arrives at the IRS.."
IRS Paperless Initiative