The decline likely reflects the end of the pandemic filing era. At the same time, number of returns process rose by .7 person, reflecting the IRS catching up on its backlog of returns.

There were 137,144,000  returns received for the most recently reported period, down from 138,942,000 in last year’s corresponding period. The IRS processed 134,649,000 returns through April 21, down from 133,773,000 a year ago.

Efiles submitted fell 1.1 percent to 132,009,000 -from133,773,000. Those submitted by paid preparers remained almost steady at 70,492,000, this year, compared to 70,509,000 a year earlier. Self-prepared efiles remained behind 2022 rates as they have most of the season, falling to 61,517,000, down 2.2 percent from 62,900,000.

The number of refunds dropped to 85,935,000, off 3.1 percent from 88,667,000 . The average refund remained down as it had all season, falling to $2,753, a drop of 8.6 percent from $3,102.

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