Revenue Customer Service Center Extends Hours Through April 15; Evening and Weekend Assistance Available Through Annual Tax Deadline.

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Secretary of Revenue Gregory C. Fajt today announced that the Department's Taxpayer Service & Information Center is extending its service hours from March 28 through April 15, the annual Personal Income Tax filing deadline.

Assistance will be available from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays April 2 and April 9. The Taxpayer Service & Information Center is prepared to assist taxpayers with Personal Income Tax questions by telephone at (717) 787-8201 or online through the Online Customer Service Center available through the Department's Web site at http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/.

"With the annual tax deadline only a few weeks away, we want to be available to assist our customers beyond our normal business hours," Fajt said.

Taxpayers with Internet access may be able to find the answer to their tax question by using the Online Customer Service Center, which allows taxpayers to search a database of commonly asked questions. If taxpayers do not find the answer to their question, they can submit the question to a customer service representative.

The Taxpayer Service & Information Center's staff can also answer questions about electronic tax filing options. The Department offers two free electronic tax filing options: TeleFile (over the telephone) and pa.direct.file (over the Internet). These two services do not require a Department-assigned account number. If a taxpayer filed a return last year, his or her Social Security Number (SSN) and five-digit ZIP Code are all that is needed to file over the telephone with TeleFile. To file using pa.direct.file, taxpayers will need their SSN and one of the following if they filed a return last year: last year's tax liability, a PA Driver's License or a Photo Identification Number. Also available is the Federal/State e-File service (available through tax preparers or authorized computer software) that allows the filing of both state and federal returns together or separately.

Overall electronic filing is up 10 percent from last year. To date, more than 1.6 million taxpayers have filed their taxes using one of these methods.

"All electronic filing options are secure," Fajt said. "Filing a tax return electronically also gives taxpayers more options and advantages compared to filing a paper return."

Refunds from electronically filed returns are processed in about half the time of paper returns. Also, a refund can be directly deposited into a checking or savings account -- an option that is not available with a paper return. The electronic filing systems perform the math calculations, thus eliminating errors that can delay the processing of a return and/or refund. Plus, taxpayers receive instant confirmation that their return has been filed and received by the Department.

Taxpayers can visit the Department's e-Services Center at http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/ to: file returns using pa.direct.file; make payments, including estimated payments; check the status of a return or refund; update information; pay any tax due by credit card; and access the Online Customer Service Center.

CONTACT: Steve Kniley

(717) 787-6960

CONTACT: Steve Kniley, Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, +1-717-787-6960

Web site: http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/