Efiles from paid preparers totaled 58,506,000 for the 64 days ended April 16, a 5.4-percent rise over the 82 days ended April 17, 2020. Meanwhile, DIY users who owe money may be waiting on deadline as self-prepared returns have fallen behind the 2020 compared season at an accelerating rate over the last two reporting periods.
There were 50,875,000 self-prepared efiles through April 16, a 6.8-percent drop from 54,561,000 a year ago. That left total efiles at 109,381,000, down .6 percent from 110,089,000 for the comparable period a year ago.
Total returns received by the Internal Revenue Serove remained 4.7 percent behind last year’s totals, falling to 116,139,000 from 121,892,000. There were 77,652,000 refunds reported by the IRS this year, a decline of 8.4 percent from 84,771,000.
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