Put down the phone, turn on the computer and log on.

It may be early in the season for many taxpayers, but waiting until the last minute could cause more problems than usual this year.

The fast and convenient Telefile is no longer a tax filing option for state income taxes, and plans have been made at the federal level to discontinue the service nationwide in 2006.

Telefile is geared towards the younger generation that works one or two part-time jobs, perhaps goes to school and either still lives with parents or has just ventured out on their own.

According to the California Federal Tax Board Web site, replacing Telefile is an online system of filing returns called e-file or Calfile, which is fast, direct and easy to use.

News of the change hadn&t circulated around Sacramento State taxpayers yet and some said they were surprised, while others said they were upset that it hadn&t.

&That&s a pain in the ass,& said Mandy Young, a senior criminal justice major.

She said she wasn&t planning to use Telefile this year, but that she knows how convenient the service was for everyone.

JoJo Broussard, a junior sociology major, said the change came as a shock and directly affected her.

&That&s sucky,& she said.

Broussard said she liked how easy it was to fill out the booklet and submit it over the phone.

She said she usually waits until the last minute to do file taxes, but that she&d have to go find someone to assist her now.

&Tax season comes and, &Oh, we&re not going to do that anymore&?& Broussard said. &They should have told people.&

A technician working for the Franchise Tax Board in Sacramento, which handles individual income tax returns for the state, said she didn&t even know about change, but after looking it up on her computer, found that the board did not send out Telefile packets this year.

Not everyone, however, sees the absence of information about Telefile&s demise as a major concern.

Steve Crocker, a certified public accountant in Sacramento, said he thinks it won&t be a problem unless everyone who uses Telefile waits until the night before to log onto the computer to file his or her tax returns.

Crocker and others working in the tax arena help prepare individual&s taxes that will include listing houses, businesses and anything else they own this year.

The state&s advocating to use e-file affects them, too, he said.

Crocker said he has to use the Internet if he has more than 100 returns to file, in an effort to save resources.

He said his only question is how much Telefile is costing the state.

According to California&s Federal Tax Board&s online Web site, Telefile ended in 2005 because of decreased use of the service and increased costs, as well as the more than 10,000 taxpayers who used Telefile that have switched to e-file.

Telefile had originally been created in 1996 to decrease costs associated with labor-intensive paper processing in tax returns, it said on the Tax Board&s site.

No one could be reached for comment on Telefile&s exact cost to the state.

As for federal tax returns, Bill Steiner, who works with the media relations IRS service in Sacramento, said that Telefile is still available, but that the service is by invitation only.

He said that for now, all states have the option, but Telefile will be discontinued next year.