Get your refund easier, faster

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) - Filing your tax return online is perhaps the easiest and fastest way to get your refund, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Last year, a record 61 percent of Virginians filed their taxes electronically.

According to the IRS, those who filed by paper waited up to four weeks for their refunds, opposed to those who filed online and received their refunds within days.

The reason, according to the IRS, is that the Dept. of Taxation (TAX) is hiring fewer hourly employees during the busy filing season due to budget issues facing the Commonwealth. Processing paper returns is much more costly than those filed Online.

Filing your taxes online is also easier, as long as you have access to the internet.

Filing your taxes online can be done on TAX's secure Website -- though nothing is 100 percent secure -- you can be fairly confident that filing on TAX's Website will keep your information completely confidential. Another luxury to filing online is that you don't have to worry about math errors -- it's all calculated for you.

Also, whether you file online or on paper, have your check directly deposited into your account. Requesting a paper check will add another week to your refund's processing time.

Below are some of the options taxpayers have for filing their tax returns electronically:

• Go to TAX's Web site, tax.virginia.gov , and use iFile, TAX's free filing service.
• Go to irs.gov and use the IRS' e-File program to file both federal and state returns. If your adjusted gross income in 2009 was $57,000 or less, you can file your federal return for free. Many e-File vendors also let you file your state return for a small fee.
• Use commercial tax-filing software.
• Go to a tax professional and ask that your tax return be sent electronically.