as filers seek stimulus checks.
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by beth bellor
want a bright spot in the irs’ weekly updates on tax filings? it’s website traffic, more than double what it was a year ago.
more: covid drowns irs in new filings | 2020 tax season comes to a screeching halt | the tax season 2020 dumpster fire | tax pros fall behind 6.2% in returns filed | tax pros trail by 908,000 returns | tax pro irs filings lag by 532,000 | tax pro e-filings lag by 512,000 returns | tax pros kick into high gear
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everything else? a sea of red.
the irs had received 121.9 million individual income tax returns as of the week ending april 24, the latest data available, down 12.5 percent from the same period in 2019. it had processed 110.1 million of those returns, down 17.1 percent. though it might be expected to find much lower numbers with the filing deadline extended, the agency noted that some people who would not usually file income tax returns have done so to obtain economic impact payments.
the return processing rate at 90.3 percent, down noticeably from the 96 percent seen early in the season.
e-filings
there were 110.1 million returns filed electronically, down 13.3 percent. tax professionals filed 55.5 million, down 21.8 percent, and self-preparers filed nearly as many at 54.6 million, down 2.6 percent.
the pros barely held the edge in e-filing receipts, handling 50.4 percent.
website visits
visits to irs.gov more than doubled, up 107.1 percent to 898.3 million.
refunds
overall refunds numbered 91.5 million, down 7.5 percent, and totaled $248.1 billion, down 8.1 percent. the average refund of $2,712 was down 0.6 percent.
direct deposit refunds numbered 76.6 million down 10.3 percent, and totaled $218 billion, down 11 percent. the average direct deposit refund of $2,844 was down 0.7 percent.