There were 69,403,000 returns received for the year-to-date, .1 percent ahead of the 69,484,000 submitted through the same period in 2017. That is the same percentage as in the prior week’s report. 

However, the number of returns processed fell to .2 percent behind a year ago, compared to .1 percent lower a week ago. The total fee to 67,183,000 processed for 2018, down from 67,302,000 year ago. Similarly, the rate at which refunds have been issued worsened. The IRS issued 55,327,000 refunds to date for 2018, a decrease of 1.6 percent from 56,220,000, compared to lagging by 1.2 percent for the week-ago period report.

Efiled returns also worsened slightly. There were 65,270,000 efiled returns for the year to date, down .5 percent from 64,953,000, compared to a .6-percent drop from the prior week’s report. It is possible the differences could reflect rounding

The rate of efiled returns prepared by tax professionals continued to improve. Professionals prepared 33,495,000 efiled returns through March 9, down 1.8 percent from 34,093,000 in last year’s corresponding period. That was better than the -2.1 percent rate of the prior week’s report.

Although self-prepared returns continued ahead of 2017 totals, the increase of 3 percent was down from 3.4 percent for the prior period’s totals. DIYers efiled 31,775,000 returns for the year, compared to 30,860,000 a year ago.

There were 55,327,000 returns issued this year, down 1.6 percent from 55,327,000. The average return rose to $3,046, up 1 percent from $3,016.