The average refund rose slightly through March 8, continuing a steady increase regisered in each weekly report issued by the Internal Revenue Service this year. The average refund was $3,008, an increase of .1 percent, from $3,004 from the period through March 9, 2018.Returns received also continued to close the gap on the 2018 tax season, reaching 67,721,000 for the season reported to date, down 2.5 percent from 69,484,000. That is better than for the season through March 1 in which returns received were off by 3.2 percent over the comparable period through 2018.
Efile receipts fell to 64,299,000 for this year's season through March 8, down 1.5 percent from 65,270,000 in last year's corresponding period. Tax professionals submitted 31,942,000 efiled returns, a drop of 4.6 percent from 33,495,000 a year earlier. Self-prepared returns rose to 32,357,000, an increase of 1.8 percent from 31,775,000.
