Alabama taxpayers are e-filing their Federal income tax returns from their own computers in record numbers this year, the IRS announced today. As of March 5, nearly 252,000 income tax returns were filed from home computers, up 19.8 percent compared to the same time last year.

“More Alabamians are turning to e-file this year, which allows them to save on tax preparation and filing fees,” said IRS spokesman Dan Boone. “With all the recent tax law changes and people needing their refunds faster, e-filing is way to go.”

Through March 5, a total of almost 941,000 tax returns have been e-filed by Alabamians either through their tax preparers or from home, up 4.2 percent compared to the same time last year.

However, the number of e-filers using IRS Free File, available only through IRS.gov, has fallen by about 19 percent in Alabama and 30 percent nationwide. A number of factors could be causing the decrease in Free File volumes, including national advertising of other free online tax preparation offers and the elimination of electronic filing fees by some software providers.

Nationwide, the number of returns e-filed from home computers was over 18 million, an increase of 20 percent over last year. The total number of returns e-filed by individuals and by tax preparers was close to 52 million, an increase of 6.2 percent.

As the year progresses, the IRS expects to receive and process more individual income tax returns during 2009 than in 2007 but fewer than in 2008.