IR-2008-127, Nov. 5, 2008
WASHINGTON — Individual taxpayers e-filed almost 90 million tax returns during 2008, an increase of more than 12 percent over the prior year. Of the 155 million tax returns filed, about 58 percent were filed electronically.
“More people with home computers and businesses embraced electronic filing this year," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “Every year, more people realize that electronic filing is the safe, accurate way for taxpayers to complete their taxes and get faster refunds.”
Tax Returns Filed by Individuals
While the total number of returns has increased by 23 percent during the past decade, the number filed electronically has increased by 206 percent.
 

Year


Total Returns


e-Filed Returns


Percent of total e-filed


1999


125,900,000


29,349,000


23.31%


2000


128,430,000


35,412,000


27.57%


2001


130,965,000


40,244,000


30.73%


2002


131,728,000


46,892,000


35.60%


2003


131,557,000


52,944,000


40.24%


2004


132,200,000


61,507,000


46.53%


2005


133,933,000


68,476,000


51.13%


2006


136,071,000


73,255,000


53.84%


2007


140,188,000


79,979,000


57.05%


2008


155,490,000


89,886,000


57.80%

 
This year, almost 27 million returns were filed by individuals from their home computers, up from 22.6 million last year ― a 19 percent increase. Filings from home computers accounted for 30 percent of all returns e-filed by individuals. Even though individual tax filings were spurred to unprecedented levels by the economic stimulus payments, the percentage of those e-filed increased to 58 percent.
Free File
During 2008, taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $54,000 or less, or about 70 percent of individual taxpayers, had the option of choosing to e-file for free through
IRS Free File, a partnership between the IRS and some software manufacturers. Almost 4.8 million tax returns were filed through Free File, an increase of 24 percent over last year’s total of almost 3.9 million returns.
Refunds: Direct Deposit and IRS.gov Set Records
More taxpayers chose to receive their refunds through direct deposit during 2008.  The agency made 66 million direct deposit payments in 2008, up 8 percent from 61 million payments at the same time in 2007.
Overall, the IRS issued 107 million tax refund payments in 2008, up almost 2 percent from 105 million refund payments for the same time in 2007. As of Oct. 31, the average refund for 2008 was $2,371, up 4 percent from $2,280 at the same time in 2007.
IRS.gov
The IRS Internet site, IRS.gov, continues to be a convenient source of federal tax information that consumers can trust, and the site’s popularity continues to increase. As of Oct. 18, IRS.gov had been visited 326,522,488 times.
Tax Returns e-filed by Businesses
Businesses also broke e-file records during 2008 by filing almost 2 million corporate and partnership income tax returns, an increase of more than 50 percent over the prior year. Partnership e-filings saw the steepest increase. Large partnerships, those with more than 100 partners, e-filed more than 27,000 returns during 2008, up 156 percent compared to the prior year’s total.
Corporations and partnerships e-filed 1,944,421 tax returns during 2008, up 50 percent from last year’s total of 1,294,475.  The total number for e-filed returns that were not filed by individuals was 3,365,757, up 65 percent from last year’s total of 2,172,753. This number includes forms e-filed by exempt organizations.
Filing Season Statistics
 

2008 FILING SEASON STATISTICS


 


Cumulative through the weeks ending 11/02/07 and 10/31/08


 


Individual Income Tax Returns


2007


2008


% Change


 


Total Receipts


139,272,000


155,490,000


11.6


 


Total Processed


138,647,000


154,241,000


11.3


 


 


 


 


 


 


E-filing Receipts:


 


 


 


 


TOTAL


79,979,000


89,886,000


12.4


 


Tax Professionals


57,420,000


62,959,000


9.6


 


Self-prepared


22,559,000


26,927,000


19.4


 


 


 


 


 


 


Free File


3,853,813


4,774,894


23.9


 


 


 


 


 


 


Web Usage:


 


 


 


 


Visits to IRS.gov


198,049,375


329,367,883


66.3


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


Total Refunds:


 


 


 


 


Number


105,147,000


106,780,000


1.6


 


Amount ($Bil)


242.805


 


256.264


 


5.5


 


Average refund


$2,309


$2,400


3.9


 


 


 


 


 


 


Direct Deposit Refunds:


 


 


 


 


Number


61,444,000


66,338,000


8.0


 


Amount ($Bil)


165.759


 


180.498


 


8.9


 


Average refund


$2,698


$2,721


0.9


 

 

 

 
Subscribe to IRS Newswire