There were 115,961,000 returns received through April 17, down 15.15 percent from 137,233,000 for the season through April 19, 2019.  Total efiles were down by 16.1 percent  with returns efiled by paid professionals falling increasingly off the year-earier totals

There were 105,991,000 efiles for the year-date, down from 126,264,000. That’s drop of 20 million returns.

Efiles from professional preparers down to 53,651,000 for the season through April 27, a decline of 23.9 percent from70,476,000 in last year’s corresponding period. Self-prepared efiles dropped to 52,340,000, off 6.1 percent from  55,788,000.

The number of refunds issued fell 15 percent to 81,349,000 from 95,737,000 for the period ended April 19 last year. Average return rose to $2,818, an increase of 3.4 percent from $2,275.

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