The number of tax returns received by the Internal Revenue Service for the season through February 21 were almost even with the comparable period in 2019. Total returns received were down .1 percent from a year ago while efiles were up .3 percent.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.
