Self-prepared returns almost caught up with last year’s tax season as the rate of filing by professionals accelerated. The DIY efiles were down .4 percent for the 43 filing days ended March 26, from the 61 days ended March 27, 2020.
But professional efiles improved by 5.4 percentage points over the total reported for the season ended March 26. The pros submitted 39,926,000 efiles, off 10.3 percent from 44,501,000 in last year’s corresponding period. The category was off by 15.7 percent for the period reported through March 19.
There were 85,005,000 returns received by the Internal Revenue Service for the season to date, a decline of 6.2 percent from 90,617,000 for the longer corresponding period in the 2020 tax season.
Overall, there were 80,835,000 received, a decline of 5.5 percent from 85,559,000. DIYers had 40,909,000 efiles submitted, a drop from 41,058,000 a year ago.
The number of refunds remained down double digits with 56,494,000 issued for the tax season as reported, off 19.2 percent from 69,931,000 a year earlier.
