There were about 4.3 million returns filed since April 19. And the 141,567,000 total through May 10 was virtually unchanged from the 141,531,000 filed through May 11, 2018.  Typically, software and tax service providers expect around 1 percent growth each year. This year, the weekly reports have shown the total down most of tax season, but at times pulling ahead of 2018 totals and then falling behind again.

One thing has not changed—the number of self-prepared returns are up and the number from tax professionals are down.

Total efiled returns of 127,939,000 rose 1.5 percent over last year’s 126,040,000. The 71,725,000 efiles from tax professionals through May 10 dropped by .5 percent from 72,111,000 in last year’s corresponding period. There were 56,214,000 self-prepared efiles, up 4.2 percent from53,929,000a year ago.

Refund statistics remained down under the impact of tax cuts which returned money in paychecks throughout the year. 

The 101,590,000 refunds for the year to date were 1 percent lower than102,582,000 a year ago. The government paid out $277.258 billion so far, down 2.7 percent from $284.927 billion in 2018.  The average refund, $2.729, dropped by 1.7 percent to $2,778.