self-preparers make gains, but there are still new clients to be had.
by beth bellor
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the 2018 busy season ended and tax pros lost a little bit more market share, following a trend that has continued nearly from the beginning of weekly irs reports.
more on tax season: busy season 2018: how good can it get? | irs in retreat from communities | survey: new tax law roils busy season
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as of april 20, the most recent week of reporting, e-filings of individual income tax returns totaled 124.5 million, up 1.9 percent. tax professionals handled 71 million of those, down 0.8 percent. self-preparers filed 53.5 million, up 3.4 percent.
that puts pros at 57 percent. for the same week in 2011, that rate was 64 percent, matching the previous year. ever since, the rate has slipped bit by bit.
that figure doesn’t tell the whole story, though, because at the same time, e-filings were climbing in number, both overall and in pro shops. in 2010, 93.5 million returns were e-filed, 59.8 million of them by professionals. this year those figures were 124.5 million and 70.9 million, respectively. so over the last eight years e-filings
- in total increased 33.2 percent
- by tax pros increased 18.7 percent
- by self-preparers increased 59 percent
put another way, there were 31,055 more returns e-filed each year in 2018 than in 2010, and 11,199 of those by pros. of the segment growth, then, professionals captured 36 percent of it. sure, new ground is shifting toward the self-preparers, especially as the software improves and the prices drop. but there is still opportunity for the accountant who wants to pursue these clients.
in other filing news, the agency everyone loves to hate had received 136.9 million returns by up 0.9 percent from 2017. it had processed 130.5 million returns, down 1.3 percent.
the irs had processed 95.3 percent of returns received.
visits to irs.gov at 386.9 million were 23.9 percent.
refunds numbered 95.4 million, down 1.7 percent, in a total amount of $265.3 billion, down 1.1 percent. the average refund at $2,780 was up 0.6 percent.
direct deposit refunds numbered 80.5 million, down 1.4 percent, in a total amount of $236.9 billion, down 1.1 percent. the average direct deposit refund at $2,943 was up 0.4 percent.
direct deposit was preferred by 84.3 percent of filers receiving refunds.