opening days show accountants filed only 40% of irs intake. blame the shutdown.
by beth bellor
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the irs might have rushed into action as soon as the government shutdown ended, but it still is feeling the effects as all filing statistics remain on the downside two weeks in.
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as of the week ending feb. 8 – the latest data available – the internal revenue service had received 28.8 million returns, down 6.9 percent from the same week in 2018. it had processed 27 million returns, down 10.2 percent, for a processing rate of 93.8 percent.
e-filings
e-filings totaled 27.6 million, down 7.1 percent. of those, tax pros handled 11 million, down 12.5 percent, while self-preparers filed 16.6 million returns, down 3.2 percent.
of all individual income tax returns, 96 percent were filed electronically.
tax pros’ share of e-filings was 39.9 percent.
website visits
the irs may be hard to reach via phone but its website still is open. visits to irs.gov, at 106.4 million, were down 6.9 percent.
refunds
refunds issued numbered 11.4 million, down 15.8 percent. the total amount of $22.2 billion was down 23.2 percent. average refunds at $1,949 were down 8.7 percent.
direct deposit refunds numbered 10.8 million, down 14.9 percent. the total amount of $21.5 billion was down 22.8 percent. average refunds at $1,996 were down 9.2 percent.
direct deposit made up 94.8 percent of refunds and 97.1 percent of the total amount refunded. the average direct deposit refund was 2.4 percent higher than those for paper filers.
shutdown effects
the irs opened filing season immediately after the shutdown ended, but damage already had been done. much of it was detailed in national taxpayer advocate nina e. olson’s 2018 annual report to congress, released feb. 12 after a month’s delay because of, well, you know. impacts included:
- in week 1 of the 2018 filing season, the irs answered 86 percent of calls routed to an accounts management telephone assistor, with a 4-minute average wait time. this year those states were at 48 percent and 17 minutes.
- the automated collection system line also disappointed. last year, 65 percent got through and waited an average of 19 minutes. this year it was 38 percent and 48 minutes.
- the installment agreement/balance due telephone line was bleaker still, with 58 percent of calls answered in 2018 with an average wait time of 30 minutes. this year, it was a measly 7 percent of calls answered in the first week, after waiting an average of 81 minutes.
- and of course, during the shutdown, correspondence still poured in, with more than 5 million pieces of mail waiting to be processed by jan. 24. those included 80,000 responses to fy2018 earned income tax credit audits that had not been addressed, so eligible taxpayers likely would have their legitimate eitc claims frozen during the 2019 filing season, as well as 87,000 amended returns waiting to be manually processed.