Tax payment site gets friendlier

The IRS yesterday rolled out improvements to the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System Web site that will let taxpayers schedule and track payments more conveniently. EFTPS-OnLine, at , is a joint site run by the Treasury Department and its IRS and Financial Management Service bureaus. It lets taxpayers make federal tax payments electronically. Taxpayers can also pay by phone or through batch provider software via tax preparers.The IRS collected $1.5 trillion last year through all electronic modes. Over 95 percent of business’ employment tax payments are routed through EFTPS each year, the IRS said.“It’s important to keep the Internet feature flexible to grow with technology and the needs of taxpayers,” said Robert Hunt, IRS director of taxpayer education and communication. A taxpayer who must make quarterly estimated tax payments using Form 1040ES now can schedule all four payments in one session and access a 16-month payment history, Hunt said. The same user can also search, print and download payment history by date, tax type, amount and tax form.Previously, taxpayers could schedule only one estimated tax payment at a time and then would have to log out and back on to schedule another. And only four months of payment history were available. Plus, there was no payment history search and sort feature, Hunt said.Taxpayers now can also change bank accounts to be accessed for IRS payments by phone without completing a new enrollment, then select a personal identification numbers online and begin making payments from the accounts immediately.The new features have the capability to connect taxpayers directly from the EFTPS Web site with links to states with electronic tax payment systems, Hunt said.