The season's highest increase before this was in early March when returns crept up .1 percent over 2019 total. But then the coronavirus shutdowns hit

There were 147,142,000 received for the cumulative period of 2020, compared to 144,789,000 in the prior year’s corresponding period.  But with the IRS not processing 4.5 million paper returns at last report, a significant backlog remains. The agency processed 134,603,000 returns through July 10, down 7 percent from 144,789,000 a year ago.

Efiled returns were also up, reaching 133,174,000 , an increase of 1.9 percent from 130,725,000

in last year’s corresponding period. That was owing to a 13.4-percent rise in self-prepared returns, reaching 64,253,000from 56,652,000.  The 68,921,000 efiles from paid professionals were 7 percent lower than 74,073,000 for the corresponding period last year.

The IRS issued 96,798,000 refunds through July 10, a decline of 8.4 percent from 105,635,000 a year ago.