After seasons that were influenced by the COVID pandemic, it was ibe  off to a more normal start. There were 18,946,000 returns received to date, up from 16,685,000 in last year’s corresponding period.

The IRS also reported a 29.1-percent increase in returns processed to 16,767,000 from 12,992,000 a year earlier.  After the paper backlog of the last few years, that may be a good indicator of the return to more regular operations and that also appears to show in  the total number of returns received, a jump of 84.7 percent  to 7,996,000 from 4,330,000.

There were 17,508,000 returns efiled through February, an increase of 9.5 percent from 15,990,000.

The pace of increase of efiles submitted by tax professionals rose at a much steeper rate than those that were self-prepared, perhaps reflecting the impact of programs such as TurboTax Live Full service in which Intuit-employed preparers complete returns

Pros submitted 6,066,000 efiles, up 15.7 percent from 5,243,000 a year ago. The number of self-prepared returns increased by 6.5 percent to 11,442,000 from 10,747,000 a year. earler..

The size of the average return dipped to $1,983, down 10.8 percent from $2,201 a year ago.