Tax Information And Guide

Adobe Releases Results of New Taxpayer Survey on Electronic Filing

Survey of 1,000 Taxpayers Finds Nearly Half Plan to File Electronically

SAN JOSE, Calif. April 12, 2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the results of a survey of 1,000 U.S. taxpayers that examined trends and attitudes towards the filing of federal income taxes online. The survey found that nearly half of U.S. taxpayers surveyed plan to file their 2004 federal tax returns electronically this year. The survey, conducted by iQ Research & Consulting, based in Washington, D.C., contacted taxpayers by telephone the week of February 21st.
Of the 47 percent of respondents who said they had filed electronically in the past, 92 percent rated their past experience as either excellent or good. Fifty percent of survey respondents said that the best reason for filing taxes electronically is faster processing, including faster tax refunds. Since 68 percent of taxpayers surveyed are expecting a refund this year there is an incentive for online filing.

In fact, American taxpayers appear to have a growing comfort with the Internet when it comes to doing their taxes. Fifty-seven percent of the survey respondents said that the IRS should provide electronic tax forms on its website, and that taxpayers should be able to fill those forms out and submit them online. Currently, while taxpayers can fill out many IRS forms online, they can only print out those forms and mail them into the IRS, or else submit their tax returns electronically through independent services.

"This survey demonstrates that American taxpayers are not only more comfortable with on-line filing and are having good experiences with it, but also that they want to be able to do it directly, without necessarily having to use outside services," said Eugene Lee, vice president of product marketing at Adobe. "However there is still an opportunity to educate taxpayers on the benefits of filing taxes electronically."

Adobe makes Acrobat PDF software and server products used by the IRS to create electronic forms. Distributing PDF files online costs less than a penny per form, significantly less than an individual taxpayer order sent via postal mail. Today, the IRS leverages a new generation of the free Adobe Reader that supports automatic generation of 2D barcodes and allows taxpayers to fill in and save electronic forms while working offline. This improves the taxpayer experience and reduces the requirement for manual re-keying of tax forms, which can lead to entry errors.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe is the world's leading provider of software solutions to create, manage and deliver high-impact, reliable digital content. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

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