The do-it-yourself tax filing market continues to grow. Statistics from the Internal Revenue Service for the tax season through February 19, shows the number of self-prepared efiled returns up by 3.1 percent over last year's season through February 20. Meanwhile, efiled returns prepared by paid professionals remains down from a year ago.

The Internal Revenue Service says it has seen a 400 percent surge in phishing and malware incidents this tax season. And the IRS said this week it has observed fraudsters are more frequently asking for personal tax information, which could be used to help file false tax returns.

The Justice Department is seeking to bar a Texas tax preparer and an art appraiser who were convicted of a scam involving inflated values of African tribal art for write-offs for charitable donations. The Department of Justice has asked a federal district court in Houston, Texas, to bar John E. Carter, previously sentenced to prison for tax fraud, and Sulayman Mamadou Jarra from preparing federal tax returns for others.