There were 77,795,000 returns submitted this year, up .4 percent from 77,475,000 through the corresponding period a year ago. And for the first time in the seven weekly reports issued for the season, the number of returns processed was higher than a year ago, 75,307,000 to date this year versus 75,208,000, an increase of .1 percent.

Self-prepared returns efiled remained higher than 2017. DIYers filed 34,487,000 returns, an increase of 2.5 percent from 33,657,000. There 72,732,000 total efiled returns through March 16, an increase of .7 percent from 72,205,000.

Refunds continued to trail 2017 totals. The IRS issued 61,739,000 during the current period, off 1.2 percent from 62,494,000 through March 17, 2017.