Uncle Sam Wants You to E-File

The U.S. government on Tuesday launched an initiative aimed at urging citizens to pay their taxes to the IRS over the Internet. Last year, nearly 78 million electronic payments were received from taxpayers, but most were from large businesses. Called "Simplify", the effort aims to encourage the 42 million others to use the e-file system.

Not only will taxpayers receive their refunds faster, it also costs the federal government 53 cents less per return to process them. "The Simplify campaign exemplifies a wider effort by the Treasury to serve an increasingly wired public through a variety of electronic filing and payment processes, including IRS e-file, e-pay and e-services," IRS commissioner Kevin Brown said in a statement.