Mainebiz

V O L . X X X N O. I X A P R I L 2 9 , 2 0 2 4 8 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E Hannaford Supermarkets opened stores at 62 West Main St. in Fort Kent and 58 Main St. in Madawaska. The addition of the new stores brings the total number of company loca- tions to 189, including 68 in Maine. The University of Maine, its regional campus, the University of Maine at Machias, and the Maine Community College System signed a memoran- dum of understanding to formalize Black Bear Advantage, a co-enroll- ment program that creates a seam- less pathway with minimal loss of community college credit for students transferring to UMaine or its regional campus, UMaine Machias, following the successful completion of an as- sociate degree from a participating MCCS college. Brewer construction manager Nickerson & O'Day Inc. is coming down the home stretch on construc- tion of an $8 million Penobscot Nation Community Center in Penobscot County. Officials held a topping off ceremony on April 16. The center, at 12 Wabanaki Way on Indian Island, is expected to open in October. B I Z M O N E Y N O T E W O R T H Y N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N For CPAs, e-filing is only one of the changes in recent decades B y P e t e r V a n A l l e n M ainebiz isn't the only organization celebrating an anniversary. We recently heard from Trish Brigham, executive director of the Maine Society of CPAs, who noted that the trade group turned 100 years old in February. "Looking back, we've been astonished by so many changes for our always hard working members," she writes. "We thought fax machines were so revolu- tionary, then computers in cases were the next big thing, then laptops — whoa, that seemed impossible to fathom 50 years ago!" She notes that email "dramatically changed how accountants interacted with colleagues and clients, and software for audit and tax work took the way we work to a whole new level. Quite a change from pencils, legal pads, adding machines and handheld calculators." Brigham also provided a few then-and-now examples of change that Mainebiz readers and taxpayers might enjoy. Data comes from Maine Revenue Services. In the past 14 years, the percentage of individual income tax returns filed electronically vs. paper copy has nearly doubled to 91%. In 1970 in Maine, 338,922 tax returns were filed electronically. By 2022, the number nearly tripled, to 845,155 electronic fillings. Before electronic filing, seasonal help was brought on to process paper returns and store all that paper. Accounting firms often had "garage-sized storage buildings," Brigham says. Refunds that once took weeks to process typically now take just a few days. The early days of Mainebiz (then known as BIZ) featured software reviews. V I N TA G E B I Z C L I P P I N G

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