

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%

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