Tax Day Renamed Cyber Tax Day (Unofficially)

April 15 is normally referred to as Tax Day, but one man wants to change that.

Matthew Cheng, founder of CyberTaxDay.com, thinks it’s time to rename the day Cyber Tax Day, given the number of people now using the Internet to file their taxes. According to the National Retail Federation, 54.4 percent of U.S. taxpayers plan to file their taxes online this year, up from 50.1 percent in 2007 (see Americans Again Eager to Spend Tax Refunds).

Cheng also has an incentive to promote online tax prep, as his company eCoupons.com, has marketing agreements with both TurboTax Online and H&R Block Online. However, he believes the trend is inevitably heading toward online tax prep.

“In the last couple of years, more taxpayers are doing their taxes online rather than doing on it on paper or on their own computers,” he said. “More than 50 percent of taxpayers are now doing it exclusively online. They are looking for convenience. They want to finish their taxes as fast as they can as painlessly as they can.”

Block recently reported that, for the fiscal 2010 tax season through Feb. 28, the number of same-office tax returns prepared in its retail operations fell 6.8 percent compared to the prior-year period, while total retail tax returns prepared through Feb. 28 were down 9.4 percent. Digital returns prepared by H&R Block were down 4.4 percent. However, online returns grew 2.5 percent.

Intuit reported last month that revenue for its consumer tax group in the quarter ended Jan. 31 grew 15 percent over the comparable quarter, driven by very strong growth in TurboTax Online.