The online filing of taxes is one of the eGovernment functions targeted by the eEurope 2002 directive. Preference for online tax filing varies by country. Except for Greece, among the EU Member States, preference tends to correlate with reported usage. By contrast, in the NAS countries this does not hold. The relatively high preferences for using this online service in the NAS countries (and in Greece) can be explained by the fact that only early adopters of Internet are surveyed and they may have a more positive attitude towards Internet issues. However, (awareness of) availability and reported usage are very limited in these countries.
Although reported usage obtained from the survey may be indicative of trends across the countries surveyed, it should not be confused with actual usage. This is because only respondents who indicated a preference for online tax filing and reported availability of this service were asked whether they had used it. It is expected that reported usage may differ significantly from actual usage. This is the case, for example, in the US, where reported usage in the survey is 24% and actual usage is in excess of 30%.