Tracy, CA--(Business Wire)--March 9, 2006-- With the 2006 tax season already half gone, more taxpayers than ever have turned to the Internet, receiving more than $24 billion in refunds so far.

Craig Petz, Vice President of Petz Enterprises, (http://www.petzent.com), whose TaxBrain.com (http://www.taxbrain.com) is the third largest independent online tax service, said, “For the first two months of 2006, online tax filings at TaxBrain.com are up 29.5 percent. At the same time, Intuit’s industry-leading TurboTax Online (http://www.turbotax.com) is reporting a 19 percent increase. H&R Block (http://hrblock.com) has not issued online filing statistics yet but reports being pleased with the performance of its TaxCut software and online products (http://www.taxcut.com).”

A recent IRS (http://www.irs.gov) press release quoted IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson as saying, “The home computer is increasingly replacing the paper tax form. Both individual taxpayers and tax professionals are turning to e-file more and more because it’s fast and accurate.”

The IRS also reported that efiling from home computers is up 16.5 percent, compared with efile by tax professionals up just 4 percent for the comparable period last year.”

Substantial savings for Do-It-Yourself Internet Users

In other news, the National Society of Accountants (NSA) (http://www.nsacct.org) surveyed 1,371 accountants nationwide to find out the mean cost of preparing a variety of tax returns. For example, NSA found the mean cost of preparing a non-itemized Form 1040 to be $110. For an itemized Form 1040 with Schedule A, the cost is $201.

“Taxpayers using an online service pay as little as $30 for non-itemized 1040 return, and slightly higher for a return with Schedule A. Online tax preparation provides significant savings compared to walk-in services, and compares very favorably with boxed software sold at retail outlets,” explained Mr. Petz.