E-File Your Taxes to Get Your Refund and Kicker Faster

For taxpayers wanting to claim their share of Oregon’s $1.41 billion kicker as soon as possible, filing electronically has never been more important.

On average, taxpayers who e-file their returns and request their refund via direct deposit receive their refund within two weeks. Those who file paper returns will experience a significantly longer wait in 2026 due to processing delays.

“The good news is that nobody has to wait,” said Megan Denison, administrator of the Personal Tax and Compliance Division at the Department of Revenue. “There’s a simple solution. File electronically.”

Oregon will begin processing electronically-filed returns Monday, January 26, the same day as the IRS.

The department will begin issuing refunds for e-filed returns February 15. For paper filed returns, refunds will not start being issued until early April.

In the closing months of 2025, the IRS was late providing necessary tax forms and information to the Oregon Department of Revenue. As a result, the state’s processing of paper-filed Oregon personal income tax returns can’t begin until the end of March.

Taxpayers may be eager to receive their tax refund this year due to the kicker. Oregon’s unique kicker is a refundable tax credit that either reduces the amount of tax owed or increases the amount of a taxpayer’s refund.

“To get your kicker, you must file a return. This year, if you file a paper return, you’re going to face a significant delay in receiving your refund,” Denison said. “Taxpayers who file electronically can avoid the extra wait.”

Chris Wytoski, manager of the Department of Revenue’s processing center, where paper forms and checks are processed, explained why the delay in receiving forms and information from the IRS will push back paper return processing.

“Using scanners, our front-end system captures the data reported on paper tax returns and checks. It then records the data in a digital format in our core accounting system,” Wytoski said. “We have to tell the system what data to capture and where to find it on each page of the return. Until the federal returns were finalized, we weren’t able to finalize Oregon’s returns and, ultimately, configure our system.”

The result is a delay for Oregon taxpayers filing paper returns this year.

Taxpayers who choose to file a paper return, should be sure to mail it early. Due to changes at the U.S. Postal Service, returns mailed in after April 9 may not receive a postmark on time. Taxpayers who still want to mail their paper returns can take them to a local USPS office and request a postmark no later than April 15, 2026.

Paper returns can also be physically deposited in drop boxes available on both the east and west sides of the Department of Revenue Building in Salem, or outside the DOR offices in Portland, Eugene, Medford, and Bend. A drop box at DOR’s Gresham office is available during business hours.

The delay in paper return processing will mean that the department won’t be able to tell taxpayers who file paper returns that their return has been received until paper return processing starts at the end of March and their specific return enters processing. That also means information on paper-filed returns won’t be available in the “Where’s My Refund?” tool until that time.

Statewide, electronic filing rates have been steadily increasing in the last decade. In 2016, 86 percent of taxpayers filed electronically. That number edged above 90 percent in 2020 and last year, nearly 95 percent of Oregon personal income tax returns were filed electronically.

The state expects to receive more than 2.2 million Oregon personal income tax returns for tax year 2025, Denison said, and approximately 95 percent are again expected to be filed electronically. That still leaves a significant number of taxpayers who could wind up waiting longer than they’d like for their refund and kicker.

For tax year 2023, nearly 123,000 Oregon personal income tax returns were paper filed. More than 100,000 – or five out of every six paper filers – claimed a refund. Choosing to file electronically this year will help those taxpayers to get their refund sooner.

Denison said Oregon taxpayers have multiple free options to file their state returns electronically.

Now in its third year, Direct File Oregon is an interview-based program similar to commercial software and allows taxpayers the convenience and security of filing directly with the state of Oregon through Revenue Online for free. More than 14,000 taxpayers filed their Oregon personal income tax returns with Direct File Oregon in 2025.

Information about filing electronically, including a list of free tax preparation software products and other ways to get help filing your tax return for free, can be found on the Get Free Help with Your Taxes page of the department’s website.

A full list of approved commercial e-filing software is available on our Electronic filing webpage.