The number of tax returns received by the Internal Revenue Service was higher for the week ended through March 4, compared to the season through March 6 a year ago. It was barely higher as the total was .1 percent more than in the corresponding period in 2015. But it was the first time that total returns received topped the 2015 figures out of the five weekly reports issued by the IRS during this tax season.

H&R Block executives would not directly comment about the impact of the company's $1,000 a day to 1,000 people in the early part of the tax season. Certainly, results for the company's showing returns off by 6.1 percent for Block's fiscal year to date for the period ending February 28 was not what it had hoped. 

There are two different views of the impact on the Affordable Care Act on tax return filing. Intuit CEO Brad Smith thinks it is a "non-event", his words when the company reported its earnings for its January quarter. But two rivals, tax chain H&R Block and Liberty Tax  believe that the ACA may be partly behind the delay in filings this year and that the impact will be revealed deeper into the tax season.