Nitheesh NH
Each year, the IRS reports tax return filings and refunds on a weekly basis, starting at the end of January until the April 15 deadline. This year, in response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the US Department of the Treasury (of which the IRS is a division) announced the deadline to file (and more importantly, to pay) has been extended to July 15. In this report, we look at what happened in the 11th week of the 2020 tax filing season.
As of April 10, 2020:
Source: IRS[/caption]
The graph below shows total refunds increasing at a 1.2% CAGR during 2015–2019.
[caption id="attachment_108165" align="aligncenter" width="580"]
Source: IRS[/caption]
- The IRS had received nearly 104 million tax returns and processed 97.8 million. The number of returns received and processed was down 12.9% and 15.5% year over year, respectively. The number of tax filings has dropped year over year as taxpayers take advantage of a 90-day filing extension granted by the IRS in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
- Of the returns filed already, 93.1% were filed electronically. Of those, 52.2% were prepared by tax professionals, and the remaining 47.8% were self-prepared.
- With the IRS temporarily closing down all Taxpayer Assistance Centers and suspending all in-person customer services nationwide, a high number of taxpayers used the IRS website for information: The site logged about nearly 487 million visits, up 21.9% year over year.
- A total of 77.3 million refunds had been issued as of April 10, totaling $220.36 billion and averaging $2,852 each. The number of refunds issued was down 8.5% and the total amount refunded was down 6.6% year over year. However, the average refund grew by 2% year over year.
- Of those refunds issued, 83.8% were paid using direct deposit. The average direct deposit refund was $2,999, up 2.6% year over year.
Source: IRS[/caption]
The graph below shows total refunds increasing at a 1.2% CAGR during 2015–2019.
[caption id="attachment_108165" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Source: IRS[/caption]