(Radio Iowa) – There’s a new online portal for Iowans to pay next year’s state income taxes. It’s called Gov Connect Iowa (GovConnectIowa)

That’s Iowa Department of Revenue director Mary Mosiman (MOZE-man). Iowans can make estimated state income tax payments up to a year in advance through the new portal.

Taxpayers with questions may also send a message through the portal to the Iowa Department of Revenue.

The new Gov Connect Iowa portal replaces what was called the “e-file and pay” system. Mosiman is urging Iowans who file a tax return as an individual and Iowans who are married and file a joint state income tax return to check out the portal.

The portal is part of a five year plan to modernize the state system for handling all taxes paid to the state. State sales taxes and corporate income taxes are now part of the updated system.

There had been over 20 stand-alone computer systems for each of the major taxes paid to the State of Iowa — and it cost 18 MILLION dollars a year to maintain those networks.

Next year, state tax distributions to local governments will shift to the centralized system, In the final year of the upgrade, license fees and other payments to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division will be included. The agency is the state wholesaler to more than two-thousand privately-owned businesses in Iowa.