The IRS reported 119,427,000 returns filed for the most recent period, an increase of .7 percent from 118,580,000 returns a year earlier with the last-minute filings yet to be included in the count.

Efiles by tax professionals also rose for the first time, hitting 63,248,000 for the period ended April 12, up .4 percent from 62,975,000 a year earlier. Self-prepared efiles totaled 48,120,000 for this year to date, a rise of 4.5 percent from 46,031,000 in 2018. Total efiles hit 111,368,000 for the most recently reported period, up 2.2 percent from 109,006,000. It was the second report in which efiles were up, but the movement for the period ended April 5 was based solely on the rise in self-prepared efiles.

The number of refunds stayed below 2018 years. There were 84,435,000 refunds for the reported period, a drop of 1.9 percent from 86,039,000. Average refunds remained down. The average for the period through April 12 was $2,795, off 1.3 percent from $2,831.