E-filing is back for filing those pesky federal taxes

E-filing is available again starting today and the IRS intends to get as many people as possible to take advantage of the electronic filing system.

The system is being touted as fast, paperless and convenient for taxpayers in 37 states, including Illinois. Last year about 49 million taxpayers used e-file. This year, it will be available through Oct. 15, the IRS is expected to announce today.

Also, the IRS wants more people involved with Free File, the way to prepare and e-file your federal tax return for free. To qualify, your household income needs to be $57,000 or less.

About 68 percent of Illinois taxpayers are eligible to use the Free File program. About 128,000 in Illinois used Free File last year out of 6 million tax returns last year, IRS data shows.

The agency said the Free File forms are available at irs.gov. New and returning taxpayers must access Free File through the IRS Web site or else the e-file provider may charge a fee.

Surfing: Chicago-based Cobra Electronics (www.cobra.com) will provide its Aura Camera & Driving Hazard Database on Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc.'s GPS navigation systems. Aura will provide speed and red-light camera alerts on MotoNav GPS devices. MotoNav will ship preloaded with Aura.

• Mundelein-based Medline Industries Inc. (www.medline.com) has been named the exclusive distributor for the SmartWand-DTX and SmartSponge, the only FDA-cleared systems using radio-frequency identification to count and to locate surgical sponges. The systems, created by ClearCount Medical Solutions, use chip-embedded sponges to count and locate sponges during surgery, helping to eliminate surgical errors and improve patient safety.

• Wow Bao, a Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprise Inc. restaurant concept specializing in steamed Asian buns called bao, launched its mobile ordering application on the Apple App Store. The app allows consumers to customize, order and pay for their meal from their iPhone or iPod touch.