Intuit resumed efiling of state income tax returns prepared via TurboTax on Friday after briefly halting the process. The company took its action after states reported an increase in suspicious filings and attempts by criminals to use stolen identity information.

The number of tax returns filed electronically by tax professionals outstripped the growth of those that were self-prepared. Those numbers represent a change in the pattern of the last few years and came as the Internal Revenue Service this month released the first tally of statistics for the current tax season.

Two owners of a tax preparation business, who used prison inmates' returns to claim inflated refunds, have been convicted on several charges. A jury took one hour to convict Kamal J. James and Crystal G. Hawkins of conspiracy, mail fraud and making false claims to the United States for filing returns on behalf of inmates at New Jersey prisons and halfway houses.

Intuit has had better months for TurboTax. A week ago, it said it would reverse a decision to pull key forms from the desktop version of TurboTax Deluxe. This week, it halted transmission of state income tax returns after reports of fraud emerged in 18 states while Minnesota said it was not accepting returns prepared via the Intuit product.