The number of tax returns received by the Internal Revenue Service for the season through June 26 were 3.5 percent behind the numbers received through June 28, 2019. And return processing remained behind a year ago by double digits.With the season ending on the extended July 15 deadline, the number of efiled returns submitted by tax professionals also lagged significantly.
The IRS received 139,938,000 for the season reported to date, off from144,990,000 returns that arrived in last year’s corresponding period. The agency had processed 128,525,000 returns for the period, a drop of 10.6 percent from 143,765,000 processed a year earlier. Last week, the National Taxpayer Advocate, reported processing has been slowed because the IRS had 4.5 million unprocessed paper returns.
There were 127,274,000 returns efiled through June 26, a drop of 2.3 percent from 130,292,000. The decline stemmed from returns from tax professionals who efiled 65,257,000 returns, down 11.5 percent from 73,706,000.
There were 62,017,000 self-prepared efiles for the season to date, an increase of 96 percent from 56,586,000 DIY efiles the prior year. In reporting its fiscal 2020 results, H&R Block said that the self-prepared returns were boosted artificially by those normally not required to file returns who submitted them this year to qualify for government aid programs.
The IRS had issued 94,117,000 refunds through June 26, down 10.3 percent from 104,959,000 in the 2019 season.
