IR-2007-185, Nov. 7, 2007 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service this year received nearly 80 million tax returns through e-file, breaking the record set last year. The 2007 level is up about 9 percent from the 73 million returns filed for the same period last year. Of the 139.3 million returns filed in 2007, 79.98 million or about 57.4 percent were filed electronically. “It was another record-breaking year for e-file,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Linda E. Stiff. “Paper returns continue to drop year after year. E-file is the safe, accurate way for more and more taxpayers to quickly complete their taxes and get a refund faster.” Since 2001, the number of e-filed returns has almost doubled and over the past decade the number of e-filers has increased four-fold. Year Returns Total E-file Percent E-file 1997 121.5 million 19.2 million 15.8% 1998 123.8 million 24.6 million 19.9% 1999 125.9 million 29.3 million 23.3% 2000 128.4 million 35.4 million 27.6% 2001 131.0 million 40.2 million 30.7% 2002 131.7 million 46.9 million 35.6% 2003 131.6 million 52.9 million 40.2% 2004 132.2 million 61.5 million 46.5% 2005 134.0 million 68.5 million 51.1% 2006 136.1 million 73.3 million 53.8% More than 22.6 million returns have been e-filed by taxpayers doing their own returns, up from 20.3 million from the same period last year. More than 57.4 million returns were e-filed by tax professionals, up from nearly 52.9 million last year. Direct Deposit, IRS.gov also Set Records Meanwhile, more people this year chose to have their tax refunds directly deposited than ever before. For the year to date, the IRS has directly deposited 61.4 million refunds, up 8 percent from last year. The IRS Web site — IRS.gov — also experienced a record year. The IRS recorded 196.2 million visits to IRS.gov this year, a more than 10 percent increase from the 177.5 million visits for the same period last year. Subscribe to IRS Newswire
