WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service’s e-file program set another record in the just-finished 2008 filing season, while Web page visits to IRS.gov also reached new highs in part due to interest in economic stimulus payments.

“The IRS has made great strides in harnessing the power of technology to do its work more efficiently,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. “The growth in electronic services helped the IRS deliver a strong filing season for the nation’s taxpayers in 2008. The increase in e-file, particularly in the final weeks of the filing season, shows that taxpayers are continuing to recognize the benefits of filing electronically.”

More than 86 million individual tax returns were electronically filed so far in the 2008 filing season, a 12 percent increase over last year at this time. By comparison, for all of 2007 just under 80 million returns were filed electronically.  In all, 60 percent of all returns filed so far this year came in through e-file.

A small percentage of the growth in e-file resulted from those taxpayers who were only required to file tax returns this year to claim their federal economic stimulus payments.

The 2008 tax season saw an increase in electronic filing among last-minute filers, a group that has traditionally filed paper returns. From April 12 to 18, the number of electronically filed returns received by the IRS was up 28 percent over the comparable week last year, even though the overall number of tax returns (paper and electronic) received during the same week was up only 9 percent.

Here are some other highlights among statistics released today:

• The IRS Customer Account Data Engine (CADE) has so far processed more than 30 million individual tax returns this year, more than double the number of returns handled by the system during all of last year. CADE, which is at the heart of efforts to replace many of the agency’s aging account processing systems, dramatically speeds up internal IRS processing. CADE processes refunds on average 5 days faster than the IRS’ legacy tax return processing system.
• The IRS has received about 4.6 million Free File returns, a 21 percent jump over last year at this time. Free File, available only on IRS.gov, will continue to accept returns through October 15 from taxpayers with incomes of $54,000 or less.
• The number of balance-due returns filed electronically surged 21 percent to over 11.3 million, also a new record.
• This year’s economic-stimulus payments helped fuel a 44-percent increase in the number of visits to IRS.gov, the agency’s Web site. The nearly 206 million visits included, for example, over 8 million to the economic stimulus calculator in April.

 

2008 FILING SEASON STATISTICS
Cumulative through the weeks ending 5/18/07 and 5/16/08
Individual Income Tax Returns	2007	2008	% Change
Total Receipts	129,150,000	143,138,000	10.8%
Total Processed	119,827,000	130,342,000	8.8%
E-filing Receipts:
TOTAL	77,076,000	86,347,000	12.0%
Tax Professionals	54,932,000	59,975,000	9.2%
Self-prepared	22,145,000	26,372,000	19.1%
Web Usage:
Visits to IRS.gov	142,282,000	205,654,000	44.5%

 

2008 FILING SEASON STATISTICS
Cumulative through the weeks ending 4/20/07 and 4/18/08
Individual Income Tax Returns	2007		2008		% Change
Total Receipts	124,965,000		136,941,000		9.6%
Total Processed	105,159,000		114,737,000		9.1%
E-filing Receipts:
TOTAL	76,159,000		85,154,000		11.8%
Tax Professionals	54,324,000		59,163,000		8.9%
Self-prepared	21,835,000		25,990,000		19.0%
Web Usage:
Visits to IRS.gov	132,673,000		160,777,000		21.2%
Total Refunds:
Number	88,168,000		89,898,000		2.0%
Amount	$203.022	Billion	$214.264	Billion	5.5%
Average refund	$2,303		$2,383		3.5%
Direct Deposit Refunds:
Number	57,155,000		61,820,000		8.2%
Amount	$153.486	Billion	$166.461	Billion	8.5%
Average refund	$2,685		$2,693		0.3%