On January 16th opened a new expanded IRS e-file program for 2008 federal tax returns. In 2008 the average return was $2,429 and nearly 27 million people prepared and filed their own return electronically. This represented an over 19% increase from 2007.

An even larger surge is expected this year. People want their tax returns handled quickly and efficiently. The new system is designed to work with the many commercial tax software products that are available. Many of which, for the first time, will not be charging additional fees to file electronically.

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IRS ready to open the gate for 2009 e-filing with new features