The Internal Revenue Service says that more than 800,000 of the nations small businesses and large corporations have filed their tax returns electronically so far this year, a 60 percent increase from last year.


Even though small businesses have no electronic filing requirement, more than 780,000 of them have opted to e-file their tax returns this year, up more than 50 percent from last year, the federal agency says.


As well, many large corporations are voluntarily e-filing.


The more than 42,000 large corporations that have e-filed far exceeded the approximately 22,000 that were required to file by the Sept. 17 deadline, the IRS says.


This is a record-breaking year for electronically filed returns by corporations and businesses, says Acting IRS Commissioner Linda Stiff. We will continue to work with the business community, tax practitioners, and the software industry to improve this important program.


Starting in 2006, certain corporations with assets of more than $50 million were required to file their Form 1120 and 1120-S electronically. About 15,500 of those corporations filed their returns electronically last year.


Starting in 2007, certain corporations with assets of more than $10 million also were required to file electronically.


Corporations of all sizes are seeing the long-range advantages of integrating their tax filing in an electronic environment along with their tax and financial accounting, says IRS Treaty Administration Director Elvin Hedgpeth, who led the implementation of e-filing for large corporations.


While large and midsize corporations are required to e-file, many small corporations are seeing the advantages of e-filing voluntarily, Hedgpeth says.


The collaboration with corporate-practitioner, software-development, and technology-stakeholder groups has facilitated the growth in corporate e-filing, Hedgpeth says.


Software and e-filing support services have become readily available to all corporations that want to transition their tax filing from paper to electronic, he says.