

IR-2004-28, March 3, 2004
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service said today that electronic filing continues its solid growth, with early tax returns showing e-filing running more than 9 percent ahead of last year’s pace. Overall, the number of tax returns has increased 2.8 percent compared to last year.
More than 33.5 million returns have been e-filed, about 3 million more than this time last year. Returns prepared and filed from home computers have jumped 23 percent.
“We continue to see strong growth in e-filing,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “More and more taxpayers are learning it’s an easy way of reliably filing tax returns. And e-filers get their refunds in half the time of those filing a paper return.”
The IRS Free File program also has shown growth. So far, the IRS has received more than 1.9 million returns through Free File, an increase of more than 24 percent from last year, when the program was introduced.
Free File is a public-private partnership between the IRS and a consortium of tax software companies that offer free e-file services to eligible taxpayers. Free File, which is available only through IRS.gov, gives taxpayers free access to the benefits of online tax preparation and e-filing.
“Free File helps taxpayers in underserved and disadvantaged communities, and it’s working,” Everson said.
Each private company sets its own eligibility requirements for the Free File program. The IRS hosts the Free File Web page, but the online tax preparation occurs on the companies’ Web sites. The companies file the returns using IRS’s secure e-file transmission system. To find out more about Free File, visit the IRS Web site.
Tax returns filed so far show:

The total number of e-filed returns hit 33.5 million, a more than 9 percent increase from last year.


Nearly 7.7 million taxpayers have prepared and filed returns on their home computers, a 23 percent increase from last year.


Tax professionals have submitted more than 23 million e-filed returns, a 7.2 percent increase from last year.


Direct deposit of refunds climbed to nearly 28 million, a 9.3 percent increase.

Related Item:  Free File
2004 Filing Season Statistics
Cumulative through the week ending 2/28/03 and 2/27/04

 


2003


2004


Change


Individual Income Tax Returns


 


 


 


     Total Receipts


47,087,000


48,390,000


  2.8 %


     Total Processed


40,003,000


42,260,000


   5.6 %


E-filing Receipts:


 


 


 


     TOTAL


30,669,000


33,511,000


  9.3 %


     TeleFile (phone)


  2,736,000


  2,547,000


 - 6.9 %


     Computer


27,933,000


30,964,000


 10.9 %


     Tax Professionals


21,700,000


23,273,000


  7.2 %


     Self-prepared


  6,233,000


  7,691,000


  23.4 %


Tax Year 2003 Refunds Certified:


 


 


 


     Number


36,907,000


38,932,000


5.5 %


     Amount of Principal


$78.826 billion


$86.836 billion


10.2 %


     Average Refund


$2,136


$2,230


4.4 %


 Direct Deposit Refunds:


 


 


 


     Number


  25,586,000


  27,955,000


  9.3 %


     Amount


$62.797 billion


 $70.658 billion


 12.5 %


     Average


     $2,454


     $2,528


   3.0 %

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