There were still three more days to file tax returns when the Internal Revenue Service issued its report for the season through April 15. But with all figures reported behind the season ended April 17, 2015, it's hard to see that three days will make much difference. Total  returns received and processed and those efiled by tax professionals continued to worsen while for the first time, the number for self-prepared returns fell below 2015's corresponding period, off 3.4 percent.

Intuit is making its company name more visible under a new brand for its professional tax preparation applications. The company is bringing the ProSeries and Lacerte applications under the Intuit ProConnect label while changing the name of Intuit Online Tax to ProConnect Tax Online in June. The company says it is not changing the names or features of either Lacerte or ProSeries.

Two tax preparers who filed phony returns for prison inmates have drawn multi-year sentences. Kamal J. James aka Bro Messiah Aziz El, 34, of Seaford, Del., drew a nine-year prison term, and Crystal G. Hawkins aka Sis. Crystal Gabri El, 39, of Laurel, Del., four years for their role in the fraud.

The results for the tax season fell behind the 2015 results at a rate that has continued to weaken over the last four weeks. The number of returns for the season through April 8 dropped to 107,452,000, down 3 percent from 110,754,000 for the year earlier through April 10, 2015. The number processed dropped by 3.2 percent for the season to date to 104,527,000 returns, off from 108,000,000 from last year's corresponding period.