The number tax returns filed continued to rise as tax season ended. For the season through April 27, the Internal Revenue Service received 139,903,000 returns, an increase of 1.7 percent 137,496,000 for the period ended April 28, 2017. That was a noticeable acceleration for the period ended April 20, when the number of returns received were .9 percent over the corresponding period in 20The IRS reported 122,782,000 efiled returns for the period to date this year, up 1.9 percent from 125,161,000 a year ago.
Paid preparers efiled 71,425,000 returns to date, a rise of .9 percent form 70,815,000 efiled returns a year ago. The IRS received 53,736,000 self-prepared efiles, up 3.4 percent from 51,967,000 efiled returns for last year’s reporting period.
The number of refunds issued this year remained down from the 2017 totals, although the pace narrowed for the April 27 report. The 99,511,000 refunds represented a .6-percent decline from 100,124,000.