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WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service announced
that e-file is off to a fast start in 2008 with more
than 38 million tax returns filed electronically so far.
The 2008 e-file level is up 5 percent from the 36
million returns filed for the same period last year,
with double digit growth coming from taxpayers filing
from their home computers.
"E-filing continues to be the preferred way to file
your tax return. It is the fast, easy, safe and more
accurate way to file your tax return," said IRS Acting
Commissioner Linda E. Stiff.
According to the new filing season statistics for the
week ending Feb. 22, 2008, one of the biggest areas of
growth is returns electronically filed from home
computers. More than 12.3 million returns were filed
from home, an increase of almost 14 percent from the
same time last year.
Overall, 46.9 million tax returns have been filed so
far in 2008, a 1.5 percent increase from the 46.2
million returns that had been filed at the same point in
2007.
As for the total amount of all refunds, $106.7
billion has been issued so far in 2008 with the average
refund amount of $2,708, up two percent from the same
time last year. So far this year, the IRS has directly
deposited 33 million refunds out of the total of 39
million refunds. The direct deposit refunds were valued
at just over $96 billion with the average amount of a
direct deposit refund of $2,900.
The IRS reminds taxpayers who have not filed their
2007 returns yet that direct deposit is the fastest way
to get both regular refunds and economic stimulus
payments. These stimulus payments will be direct
deposited for those eligible filers who select that
option when filing their 2007 tax returns. For more
information on the economic stimulus payment go to
IRS.gov.
People are visiting the IRS Web site at IRS.gov in
record numbers. The IRS has recorded more than 72
million unique visits to IRS.gov this year, up from
about 67 million for the same period last year, an
increase of 8 percent.
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2008 FILING SEASON
STATISTICS
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Cumulative through the weeks ending 2/23/07 and
2/22/08 |
| Individual
Income Tax Returns
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2007
|
2008
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% Change
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| Total Receipts
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46,244,000 |
46,918,000 |
1.5% |
| Total Processed
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41,905,000 |
42,866,000 |
2.3% |
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| E-filing
Receipts:
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| TOTAL
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36,233,000 |
38,059,000 |
5.0% |
| Tax
Professionals |
25,363,000 |
25,699,000 |
1.3% |
| Self-prepared
|
10,870,000 |
12,360,000 |
13.7% |
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| Web Usage:
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| Visits to
IRS.gov |
67,104,000 |
72,596,000 |
8.2% |
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| Total
Refunds:
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| Number
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38,622,000 |
39,387,000 |
2.0% |
| Amount
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$102.552 |
Billion
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$106.651 |
Billion
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4.0% |
| Average refund
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$2,655 |
$2,708 |
2.0% |
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| Direct
Deposit Refunds:
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| Number
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31,586,000 |
33,131,000 |
4.9% |
| Amount
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$91.262 |
Billion
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$96.071 |
Billion
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5.3% |
| Average refund
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$2,889 |
$2,900 |
0.4% |


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