State income tax deadline looms

The deadline for filing your Virginia income tax return is Friday.

State Tax Commissioner Janie Bowen recommends that late filers consider doing what most taxpayers already have done this year -- file online.

As of April 20, the Tax Department had processed 2.6 million individual tax returns, according to a department press release. A record 2.1 million returns, or 84 percent, were filed electronically, an increase of 216,000 over the same date last year.

E-filing is the easiest, fastest and safest way to file a return, says Bowen.

"It also cuts down on errors and gets their tax refunds back into their hands quickly, especially when they use direct deposit."

So far this year, 49 percent of taxpayers have chosen to have their refunds direct deposited, up from 42 percent last year. As of April 20, 98 percent of refunds from e-filed returns were processed within six days.

Paper returns are not being processed as quickly this year because fewer temporary workers were hired to handle labor-intensive paper returns, the department says.

Another factor that is boosting e-filing this year is a new requirement that tax preparers with 100 or more clients file their clients' taxes online.

For more information about electronic filing, visit www.tax.virginia.gov.

-- Daily Staff Report