IR-2006-50, March 31, 2006 Washington — The Internal Revenue Service announced today that taxpayers are continuing to e-file in greater numbers than ever before. As of March 24, 2006, the IRS had received more than 50 million tax returns through e-file, an increase of almost 3 percent compared to the same period last year. “The increase in e-filing is really being driven by people using their home computers,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “E-file is the safe, accurate way for taxpayers to quickly finish their taxes and get a refund.” So far this tax filing season, 68 percent of all returns have been e-filed, compared to 66 percent for the same period last year. More than 14 million returns have been filed this tax season by people e-filing from the comfort of their own homes, up from just over 12 million for the same period last year. As of last Friday, 28 percent of e-filed returns were filed by people using their home computers, up from 25 percent of e-filed returns for the same period last year. More people are choosing to have their tax refunds directly deposited than ever before. So far this year, the IRS has directly deposited more than 42 million refunds, or 69 percent of all refunds issued this tax filing season, up from 65 percent of the total for the same period last year. People are also visiting the IRS Web site – IRS.gov – in record numbers. The IRS has recorded almost 90 million visits to IRS.gov this year, up from 84 million for the same period last year, an increase of 7.1 percent. 2005 2006 Percent Change Total Receipts 73,762,000 73,438,000 -0.4 Total Processed 69,605,000 69,196,000 -0.6 E-filing Receipts TOTAL 49,021,000 50,296,000 2.6 Tax Professionals 34,369,000 36,269,000 5.5 Self-prepared 12,011,000 14,027,000 16.8 Telefile 2,641,000 NA NA Web Usage Visits to IRS.gov 83,898,013 89,864,558 7.1 Total Refunds Number 61,290,000 61,660,000 0.6 Amount $138,587 billion $144.513 billion 4.3 Average $2,261 $2,344 3.6 Direct Deposit Refunds Number 40,118,000 42,252,000 5.3 Amount $104.243 billion 113.414 billion 8.8 Average $2,598 $2,684 3.3 Subscribe to IRS Newswire
