And the IRS caught up with its report schedule posting statistics for  both the week ended February 14 and February 21 after publishing no statistics last week.

Total returns received for the season to date were 49,888,000, down from 49,923,000 for the period ended Feb. 22, 2019.  Efiles totaled 48,012,000, compared to 48,012,000 in 2019’s comparable period

The story on efiles was unchanged in terms of their source with the total down for those received from tax professionals and up for self-prepared. For the most recently reported period, tax professionals had submitted 21,261,000 efiles, down 2.8 percent from 21,869,000 for the year-earlier period. There were 26,751,000 self-prepared efiles, an  increase of 2.9 percent from 25,997,000

Refund numbers are down with 37,454,000 issued through February 21, down 2.1 percent from 38,566,000 through February 22 last year. The average refund was $3,125, off by .6 percent from $3,143.

Bob Scott

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Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind