The Internal Revenue Service has reported there were 34,693,000 tax returns filed in the first eight days of the tax season. But the February 12 start to the season meant that the report for the period ended February 19 compared to the year earlier season-to-date which reflected 26 days of filing in 2019.
There were 33,615,000 efiled returns for the period. And while meaningful comparisons can generally not be made to the year ago period, it is clear that the self-prepared returns are coming in at a fast pace than those prepared for paid preparers, which is expected for this point in the season.
There were 20,802,000 self-prepared returns filed, 22 percent behind the period ended 21 Feb. 2020. Paid preparers submitted 12,813,000 returns which was 39.7 percent behind the year earlier pace.
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