The Internal Revenue Service reported it has received 84,075,000 returns this season to date, off 1.9 percent from 85,689,000 for the prior year’s corresponding period. That compared to the March 8 and March 15 reports in which returns were behind the 2018 totals by 2.5 percent for both reports.
The number of efiled returns was off by less than 1 percent for the first time this season. There were 79,236,000 efiles through March 22, down .7 percent from 79,780,000. That compared to 1.3 percent behind for the March 15 report and 1.5 percent off for March 8. Efiles by tax professionals came closer to 2018 totals. There were 41,911,000 for the last report, a decline of 2.7 percent from 43,094,000, better than the -3.6 percent for the March 15 report. Self-prepared efiles grew to 37,325,000, up 1.7 percent from 36,686,000.
The IRS has issued 65,836,000 this year, off 2.6 percent from 67,599,000 a year ago. Average refunds of $2,915 through March 22 were barely changed from the year earlier $2,925.