Advancements in e-filing practices

Bai

Tejinder

et al. 2019

IJAIM

Self Cite

Purpose The US Congress set the original goal that 80 per cent of all tax returns should to be filed electronically for the 2007 tax year. Unfortunately, only 70 per cent of the total returns were electronically filed (e-filed) in 2017. This paper aims to examine the longitudinal progress of total tax returns e-filed by individuals, businesses and “other” categories for the period from 2004 to 2017 and projects a timeline to attain the goal. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive computation and analysis were performed for the volume, ratios and growth of e-filing for the major types of return. A parallel analysis was performed for the business categories. Applying various time series and exponential smoothing forecasting models, the authors projected major return e-filings for the forecast horizons from 2018 to 2025. Findings First, individual tax returns filed electronically have attained the target goal of 80 per cent since 2012, the extended deadline by Congress, so have corporations and partnerships for Fiscal Year 2017. Second, both the e-file volume and e-file rate for the grand total, individuals and businesses exhibit monotonically increasing trends over the sample period. Third, of the grand e-filings, individual returns constitute the vast majority of 84 per cent, while business e-files are less than 12 per cent. Originality/value This study is a holistic and comprehensive analysis of the adoption of e-filing in the USA. From the longitudinal analysis and the variety of forecasting models applied, the results show that the focus should be on the employment tax e-file as it stands at only 41 per cent for 2017 due to few mandates, while the returns make up 65 per cent of total business returns. The authors projected that the grand total e-filing will attain the Congressional goal of 80 per cent by 2020 along with proposed strategies and recommendations.

Section: Electronic Tax Returnmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancements and forecasts of electronic tax return and informational filings in the US

Bai

Tejinder

et al. 2019

IJAIM

Self Cite

“…Unfortunately, the goal that 80% of federal tax and information returns be received via electronic filing was not attained in 2007 (Koong et al, 2008;Lacijan, 2009). A major reason offered by the IRS Oversight Board (2012) for not meeting the targeted date is associated with some implementation problems with the IRS Business Systems Modernization Program.…”

Section: Historical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of particular interests to academicians and researchers is that since 1995, annual data about the adoption of electronic filing and information returns were available to the public. Some researchers (Hussain, 2006;Koong et al, 2008;Collins, 2010) have used the data and conducted additional analysis to predict this phenomenon from a time series perspective.…”

Section: Historical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoption of e-filing: the US journey

Bai

et al. 2019

IJRM

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To promote effective tax administration, the United States Congress set a goal of 80% of all tax returns filed electronically by 2007. The deadline was extended to 2012, which saw 69% accomplished. Using time series analysis from 2005 to 2016, this study analyses the advancements of electronic tax filings in the USA. Several interesting observations are reported. First, individual e-filing has reached the goal in 2012. Second, overall trends indicate continuous and steady progress both by volume and by share. Third, the total e-filing ratio shows monotonical increase over the years but is still shy of the target in 2016. Fourth, individual e-filing constitutes the majority while business and tax-exempt e-file comprises 15% of the total. Fifth, employment tax e-file, while constituting over half of business e-file, ranks the lowest due to few mandates. Finally, several strategies and recommendations are proposed to reach the composite target.

“…Unfortunately, analyst reports still point out that the return on e-government investments is very low or negative in many cases because these projects often fail to improve service quality (Howard, 2013;Kinder, 2010). For instance, it was expected by IRS to have 80% of taxpayers filing electronically by 2007 (Koong, Bai and Liu, 2008), whereas this date was postponed later to 2012. On a survey, respondents indicated that they do more information gathering than transacting with e-government (Barr, 2007) which is far from the objective of e-government.…”

Section: Statement Of the Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

E-government effectiveness: a rocket model of contributing user-related factors

Merhi

2016

IJSS

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This paper proposes an extended and holistic model of e-government effectiveness and user factors in the areas of technology acceptance model, contingency theory, and general systems theory used as the basis for the development of the 'Rocket Model' to demonstrate how e-government initiatives can be effective. The model is validated using two methods: (1) well established theories and (2) the five component model of an information system. A quantitative tool based on weighted scores is also used to assess the model and demonstrate its usefulness for best practices.