COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Tax season has arrived in Ohio, as the state's Department of Taxation is accepting 2011 state returns filed by computer or phone.
Officials announced the kick-off for electronic filing on Tuesday. The tax department says in a news release that about 80 percent of taxpayers now get their returns in electronically.
The department says refunds are deposited in a taxpayer's bank account within a week, much more quickly than with a paper return.
The state has stopped mailing paper tax forms and booklets to individual Ohioans, to save more than $1 million annually. Officials say more than 97% of the forms sent last year were never used.
The paper tax materials can still be picked up at libraries, banks and post offices.
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