(a) Purpose. The purpose of the Electronic Tax Return Filing Act is to authorize the Department of Revenue to accept tax returns and other documents of all types filed in electronic commerce without violating other statutes originally drafted for the use of paper returns submitted either personally or through the mail.
(b) Intent of the Legislature. It is recognized that because of constant technological advances, the statutory outline herein for filing tax returns and other documents electronically cannot encompass all of the intricacies in requirements or qualifications currently or into the future. The bulk of the requirements and qualifications must be implemented through the Department of Revenue's authority to promulgate regulations hereunder. It is the intent of the Legislature to allow the Department of Revenue the necessary flexibility to adopt specific regulations for accepting tax returns by electronic media, to control the integrity of the data submitted, to reduce processing costs and processing times, to aid accuracy, reduce complexities of filing, expedite the processing of refunds to taxpayers, and to update signature and return requirements.