The Internal Revenue Service seemed to be working its way through a backlog of individual tax returns during the last week. Meanwhile, the number of returns prepared professionally remained down. For tax season from January 31 through February 14, receipts were down slightly - off .8 percent - but the number of returns processed were 24.8-percent higher than in the corresponding period of the 2102 tax season, according to this week's IRS report.

A former professional tax preparer in Georgia has been sentenced to serve 33 months in prison in a case in which three other colleagues have already received sentences. Irene Tamika Smith, worked at Quick Tax in Cordele, Ga., drew the term from her actions in the tax seasons from 2006 through 2009.

The delayed tax filing season has produced an increase in the number of returns submitted to the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has reported the overall number of returns processed up by 3.8 percent. But that is on the strength of self-prepared returns as the number submitted by tax professionals is off by 5.6 percent.