The Scary Side of Paper Filing

With Halloween just days away, it’s officially the time of the year when scary takes over. Everywhere people are getting in the spirit with horror movies, spooky decorations, and preparing to paper file their income tax returns.

And if that last one doesn’t seem like it should be a part of that list, let me be the first to tell you that it should. Yeah, yeah, people used to paper file all the time, but people also used to take photographs with corpses, so keep in mind that people are capable of doing some pretty creepy things. And also keep in mind that if you paper file, you’re taking on some of the world’s most common fears:

Fear of Failure and Rejection
Paper filers are much more likely to make an error resulting in rejection than e-filers are. Anywhere from 10 to 21% of paper returns have errors that can cause a form to be rejected by the IRS, while only about 1 in 200 electronic returns contains errors.

Fear of Commitment
When you paper file a form, you are committing: committing to spending much more time on the entire process of your return. Paper forms take longer to fill out, and you could spend weeks pining after your return once it’s been submitted before you hear back from the IRS about its status.

Fear of Long Words
If there’s one thing the internet’s good at, it’s dumbing things down. Consider e-filing an alternative to running and screaming when you come across giant, tax-y words like “accelerated depreciation,” “capital expenditure,” and “lump-sum distribution.”

Fear of the Unknown
There are a lot of unknowns when you’re paper filing. First of all, there’s the uncertainty of the postal system. And even if your return does get there, there are some forms that the IRS isn’t required to respond to you about at all. Do you really want to take that chance?

Fear of Being Alone
We totally get this one, and when you e-file with ExpressIRSForms, you don’t have to be alone. We’ve got people working around the clock to provide you with the ultimate customer service. Send us an email 24/7 at support@expressirsforms.com, give us a call at (704) 839-2270 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST (and longer during peak filing times!), or you can even send us a live chat through our website. Don’t find yourself hunched over your tax forms, in the dark, all by yourself this tax season -- ExpressIRSForms is here to help!