As U.S. taxpayers continue to embrace the idea of e-filing their federal tax returns, more and more Iowans are turning to their computer to file their taxes.

"So far, more than 75 percent of the expected 1.4 million individual returns in the Hawkeye State were filed electronically, which is ahead of last year's rate," IRS spokesman Christopher Miller said.

Last year, Iowa had an e-file rate of 70 percent - one of the highest percentages in the nation.

In Illinois, more than 60 percent of the tax returns have been e-filed this year, which is up from 54 percent.

Nationally, individuals e-filed a record 95 million federal income tax returns during 2009 - or 67 percent of the tax returns filed - for tax year 2008. That is an increase of about 6 percent from a year ago.

"Every year more people e-file because it's easy, fast, accurate, safe and secure," Miller added.

According to the IRS, the total number of tax returns filed has increased by 10 percent over the past decade while the number being filed electronically has increased 168 percent.

This year, for the first time, more than a third of e-filers are filing returns themselves from a home computer. More than 32 million returns were e-filed from home computers, up almost 20 percent from last year's record of 27 million.