However, the number of returns efiled by tax professionals continued to lag the 2015 totals while the number of self-prepared returns efiled to date continued to stay above last year's amounts.

Total returns received, 66,733,000 through March 4, were 33,000 more than received through March 6, 2015. However, the total number of returns processed, 64,441,000, remained down, off by .7 percent. Still, that was an improvement over all the other weekly reports this season.

The number of efiled returns rose to 62,636,000, an increase of .5 percent from 62,342,000 and was the first time this year that number was higher than in the 2015 season.

There were 32,600,000 returns filed by tax professionals for the reported period, off 2.5 percent from 33,419,000 a year earlier. That too was the best performance to date for the numbers from tax pros. And that was far better than the negative 9.3 percent for the first report for the week ended February 5.

The number of self-prepared efiled returns at 30,036,000 was 3.9-percent higher than last year's 28,923,000. The percent increase for self-prepared returns has improved in each of five reports—this was up from a 3.8-percent increase for the season through February 26, compared to 2015.

Bob Scott

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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