State, Fleet Bank Partner For Tax Filing Season

HARTFORD — Lt Governor M. Jodi Rell, the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (DRS), and FleetBoston Financial this week announced they are teaming up for the 2003 Income Tax Filing Season. The three will promote electronic filing (e-filing) of Connecticut income tax returns as a taxpayer alternative to paper filing.

“We want Connecticut residents to know this is a quick, cost-efficient way to get their tax refund. E-filing is the 21st Century way to file your state income taxes,” Lt Gov Rell said.

Lt Gov Rell said her strong support of the DRS’s e-filing initiative follows her support of other programs to promote technology use and growth in Connecticut. Increased technology use by state agencies also goes hand-in-hand with enhanced efficiencies and cost benefits for taxpayers.

DRS Commissioner Pam Law said that while more than 36 percent of Connecticut’s 1.6 million income tax filers used some electronic method to file their 2002 returns last year, she would like to see that number grow substantially this year. Increasing electronic filing helps reduce the cost of doing business for the state.

“Electronic income tax filing is an important program that has enjoyed a growing popularity in Connecticut, but for government to continue to be cost-effective, we need to see it rise,” Commissioner Law said. “We are pleased to have Lt Gov Rell and FleetBoston Financial partner with DRS to help us promote e-filing. Their support will play a key role in helping DRS achieve its goal of increasing electronic filing by 15 percent.”

FleetBoston Financial will print information promoting e-filing on its customers’ bank statements and display e-file promotional messages on nearly 400 ATM screens throughout Connecticut. Fleet will also promote e-filing internally to its Connecticut employees by bringing DRS personnel in to conduct employee education presentations.

Connecticut collects about $4.26 billion in income taxes every year and issues refunds to about one million of the state’s 1.6 million income tax filers. The state’s e-filing methods include the longstanding Telefile program, the new WebFile Internet filing program, the Fed-State E-File program offered through various income tax preparers, and online filing using a third party software or Internet vendor. Both the WebFile and Telefile programs are available to taxpayers free of charge. During 2003, more than 583,000 Connecticut income tax filers used some form of e-filing to file their returns. A 15 percent increase in e-filing would bring that number to more than 670,000, or about 42 percent of filers.