Servicemembers, military retirees and annuitants and federal civilian employees paid by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service can expect to receive their 2005 tax statements by mail soon, a DFAS official said.

In fact, most retirees and annuitants already may have received theirs, with the last hard-copy mailings slated for Dec. 31, the official confirmed.

Mailing of active-duty Army, Navy and Air Force W-2 forms won't begin until Jan. 24, but servicemembers can access their forms on the “myPay” Web site beginning Jan. 21. W-2 mailings for reservists from the Army, Navy and Air Force will begin Jan. 4, but the forms will be posted online by Dec. 31.

Active-duty and Reserve Marines can check their mailboxes after Jan. 12 or access their myPay accounts beginning Jan. 10.

Mailing for DOD civilians' W-2s will begin Jan. 10, and the forms will be posted on myPay beginning Jan. 9.

An increasingly large percentage of the almost 6 million people the finance agency serves now receive their pay and tax statements electronically through myPay, the official said. By doing so, customers get their statements quicker and more securely, said Pat Shine, director of DFAS' Military and Civilian Pay Services.

A state-of-the-art encryption technology incorporated into the myPay system, which users access through a personal identification number, safeguards personal information that's more vulnerable to theft when transmitted by mail, the official said.

DFAS clients who have never set up their myPay accounts or have forgotten their PIN numbers can set up or get new ones through the myPay Web site, he said.