IR-2008-32 , March 3, 2008 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced that e-file is off to a fast start in 2008 with more than 38 million tax returns filed electronically so far. The 2008 e-file level is up 5 percent from the 36 million returns filed for the same period last year, with double digit growth coming from taxpayers filing from their home computers. “E-filing continues to be the preferred way to file your tax return. It is the fast, easy, safe and more accurate way to file your tax return,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Linda E. Stiff. According to the new filing season statistics for the week ending Feb. 22, 2008, one of the biggest areas of growth is returns electronically filed from home computers. More than 12.3 million returns were filed from home, an increase of almost 14 percent from the same time last year. Overall, 46.9 million tax returns have been filed so far in 2008, a 1.5 percent increase from the 46.2 million returns that had been filed at the same point in 2007. As for the total amount of all refunds, $106.7 billion has been issued so far in 2008 with the average refund amount of $2,708, up two percent from the same time last year. So far this year, the IRS has directly deposited 33 million refunds out of the total of 39 million refunds. The direct deposit refunds were valued at just over $96 billion with the average amount of a direct deposit refund of $2,900. The IRS reminds taxpayers who have not filed their 2007 returns yet that direct deposit is the fastest way to get both regular refunds and economic stimulus payments. These stimulus payments will be direct deposited for those eligible filers who select that option when filing their 2007 tax returns. For more information on the economic stimulus payment go to IRS.gov. People are visiting the IRS Web site at IRS.gov in record numbers. The IRS has recorded more than 72 million unique visits to IRS.gov this year, up from about 67 million for the same period last year, an increase of 8 percent. 2008 FILING SEASON STATISTICS Cumulative through the weeks ending 2/23/07 and 2/22/08 Individual Income Tax Returns 2007 2008 % Change Total Receipts 46,244,000 46,918,000 1.5% Total Processed 41,905,000 42,866,000 2.3% E-filing Receipts: TOTAL 36,233,000 38,059,000 5.0% Tax Professionals 25,363,000 25,699,000 1.3% Self-prepared 10,870,000 12,360,000 13.7% Web Usage: Visits to IRS.gov 67,104,000 72,596,000 8.2% Total Refunds: Number 38,622,000 39,387,000 2.0% Amount $102.552 Billion $106.651 Billion 4.0% Average refund $2,655 $2,708 2.0% Direct Deposit Refunds: Number 31,586,000 33,131,000 4.9% Amount $91.262 Billion $96.071 Billion 5.3% Average refund $2,889 $2,900 0.4% Subscribe to IRS Newswire
