The IRS is accelerating its timetable for paperless taxpayer communications, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

The agency’s Paperless Processing Initiative, announced last summer and expected to begin in January 2024, committed the IRS to  achieve paperless processing for all tax returns by filing season 2025. In the meantime, the initiative gave taxpayers the option to go paperless for IRS correspondence by the 2024 filing season, while aiming to eliminate up to 200 million pieces of paper annually, cut processing times in half and expedite refunds by several weeks.

Instead of waiting until January, people can begin submitting their documents now, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin said in a speech prepared for delivery at IRS headquarters in Washington. “The impact will be significant and far-reaching, and we’ll speed up processing times for the system as a whole,” she said, according to AP. “Taxpayers will save time and effort.”

AP also reported that moving to paperless processing is expected to cut back on the $40 million per year that the IRS spends storing more than 1 billion historical documents. The agency receives more than 200 million paper tax returns, forms and pieces of mail and non-tax forms annually, according to the IRS.

The progress toward increased automation has been aided by funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS has said. The agency is rolling out its Direct File service, which will provide taxpayers with the choice to file their federal tax return electronically and directly with the IRS for free, in 13 states in January.