Electronic filing of income tax returns begins Friday, January 16. The Iowa Department of Revenue Web site will link to companies that provide online filing of both the federal and Iowa returns. Click the e-file logo at www.state.ia.us/tax to find two categories of electronic filing: “eFile for Free” and “eFile for a Fee.”

E-filing both returns is free if:
• 25 or younger or
• 65 or older or
• qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit or
• earned less than $30,000 or
• active duty military

Both returns must be filed at the same time to be free.
Processing paper is a manually intensive job, according to the Department, and paper filers wait weeks to receive their refunds. E-filers, on the other hand, receive theirs in days. The Department processes more than1.5 million individual income tax returns.

Last year, 72 percent e-filed. Almost 64 percent of Iowa taxpayers receive refunds.