During Tuesday's Internet broadcast, tax experts described e-filing as "the future of the profession," but acknowledged that the process in its infancy scared away many tax practitioners.

"A lot of you may have tried electronic filing and it didn't go well," said Claudia Hill, EA and owner of Tax Mam Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. "I know the old problems -- we've been e-filing since 1989. But believe me, the technology is greatly improved. It works for us now."

For the 2002 tax year, 53 million, or 42 percent, of Form 1040 returns were filed electronically. Of that, 10 million were for small businesses, representing a 33-percent penetration into that audience.

For the agency to reach its e-filing goal -- 80 percent of all 1140s by 2007 -- it has to also win over more business filers, said Kevin Belden, chairman of the IRS Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee. He said the committee will urge Congress that "the business case must be made for both practitioners and small business owners. Electronic filing has to make sense from a business perspective."

In a survey conducted among viewers during the Tax Talk Today broadcast, the leading reason cited for switching to e-filing was to get faster refunds for clients (48 percent of respondents), followed by immediate receipt acknowledgement (35 percent).

"We're responding to tax professionals, because we know how important it is for them to make their offices as all-electronic as possible," said Jo Ann Bass, director of Strategic Services at the IRS.

Bass said later this summer the agency will be visiting with tax firms across the country, asking what more it can do to "bring them into" electronic filing.

Panelists outlined new e-filing services, including disclosure authorization and account resolution. Transcript delivery will be phased in starting late this summer. Also, the IRS now has a toll-free number, posted at www.irs.gov, for its "E-File Help Desk."

"We're listening to you, and we're making things easier and more useful all the time," Bass added. "We're trying to design what you need, because this truly is the future."

Previous programs of Tax Talk Today and the July broadcast, entitled "Everything's Electronic," are available in the archives at www.taxtalktoday.tv.