Will we really one day see a paperless society?

In the early days of e-filing, taxpayers could file returns electronically but had to mail in a paper signature form before the returns would be processed. Now, people simply affix their "signature" to the form by entering a five-digit personal identification number (PIN). The tax filer also must provide date of birth and the adjusted gross income from the previous tax year's return - all to help the Internal Revenue Service verify that the filer is the person named on the e-filed tax form.

Governmental entities also accept e-signatures for "signing" documents, applications and contracts among government entities and vendors. In Texas, the Legislature passed the Texas Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, part of which notes that a transaction is considered legally signed if a digital signature is transmitted with the document.

The State Comptroller's Office accepts digital signatures for State of Texas employee travel vouchers. The Court Reporters Certification Board allows their reporters to use them on transcripts and the Texas Board of Professional Engineers advises they can be used for engineering work submitted electronically. The Texas Department of Transportation authorizes digital certificates for e-commerce that have electronic identifiers to be used for digital signatures. Texas also has electronic records management guidelines that are aimed at ensuring the authenticity, integrity and accessibility of electronic records.

At the federal level, the General Services Administration (GSA), the nation's largest contracting organization, uses electronic signatures to help cut processing times and costs on documents from its thousands of vendors and suppliers. An e-signature program allows GSA to award paperless contracts also.

Not only is processing time significantly reduced, documents can be stored electronically - eliminating the need for additional storage space.

Use of e-signatures is just one more way the world is expanding the amount of business conducted electronically thereby saving both time and money. It may be possible one day to truthfully say we are close to achieving a "paperless society."