COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings

data chart
Data for the week ending April 17, 2020.
* Total includes returns filed to obtain Economic Impact Payments by those who would not usually file income tax returns.

Why not? Submissions are way down.

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
How’s COVID-19 impacting your firm?

Join the survey. Sound off. Get answers.

By Beth Bellor

Coronavirus hit IRS data in a couple of ways this week.

People who don’t ordinarily file income tax returns, but did so to obtain economic impact payments, boosted filings higher than they might have been for the week ending April 17, the latest data. In addition, visits to IRS.gov shot up 77 percent over 2019 – the Get My Payment link surely was part of that picture.

MORE: 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed | Tax Pros Trail by 908,000 Returns | Tax Pro IRS Filings Lag by 532,000 | Tax Pro E-Filings Lag by 512,000 Returns | Tax Pros Kick into High Gear | Slow Start for Tax Pro E-filing | Data Points Down as Tax Season Opens | The Fight for New Tax Clients
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The Internal Revenue Service reported receiving 116 million individual income tax returns, down 15.5 percent. It had processed 106.6 million returns, up 18.5 percent.
READ MORE →

The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire


Coronavirus crushes tax prep.

How’s COVID-19 impacting your Busy Season?
Join the survey. Sound off. Get answers.

By Beth Bellor

Slammed by the COVID-19 crisis, Tax Season 2020 has gone off the rails.

Tax return filing activity is trending down, and who can blame filers? With an automatic three-month extension, those who owe taxes have no incentive to file anytime soon. And practitioners are consumed with protecting their firms and rescuing their clients.

MORE: Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed | Tax Pros Trail by 908,000 Returns | Tax Pro IRS Filings Lag by 532,000 | Tax Pro E-Filings Lag by 512,000 Returns | Tax Pros Kick into High Gear | Slow Start for Tax Pro E-filing | Data Points Down as Tax Season Opens | The Fight for New Tax Clients
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

That may be impacting numbers for e-filings by tax professionals, which are down in double digits. Perhaps those whose dealings are complex enough to need assistance are seeking appointments in June now.
READ MORE →

Tax Pro E-Filings Lag by 512,000 Returns

Data chart
2020 FILING SEASON STATISTICS: Cumulative 3/8/2019 vs. 3/6/2020

As do-it-yourselfers surge by more than a million.

Busy Season Barometer:
How Does This Year’s Busy Season Compare to Last Year’s?
Better,  Worse, or About the Same?

By Beth Bellor

Tax professionals are losing their share of the e-filing market this tax season, dropping to 48.5 percent of all returns e-filed, down slightly more than one percentage point from the same time last year.

More Tax Season 2020:  Tax Season Turns Ugly under CoronavirusTech Tools for Working through the Coronavirus  |  What’s NOT to Like about Tax Season?   |  Why ‘Tick and Tie’ Needs to Die   |  Lessons from the Trenches of Tax Season   |  Coronavirus Rattles Tax Season   |  Tax Season Funnies: The ‘Service’ in IRS   |  Can Your Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions?   |  Top Tech Choices for the Virtual Firm  |

GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The IRS had received 68 million individual income tax returns as of March 6 – the latest data available – up 0.4 percent from the same period in 2019. The agency had processed 65 million returns, down 0.5 percent.
READ MORE →

Data Points Down as Tax Season Opens

Data chartDIYs, refunds are up.

The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer: New year, new strategies?
Join the survey. Get the results.

By Beth Bellor

Filings were behind last year’s marks as tax season opened, according to the IRS, and pros handled about 35 percent of e-filings.

MORE: The Fight for New Tax Clients | 5 Tax Review Keys | Treat Review Procedures Like Quality Control |  SURVEY RESULTS: Tax Pros Forecast a Better 2020 |  Can the IRS Enforce the Tax Code? |  Tax Pro’s Upbeat on Cusp of Busy Season |  Use Tax Return Prep for Training and Growth |  IRS Undertakes Overhaul  | All 2020 Tax Season Coverage
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The Internal Revenue Service received 15.8 million individual income tax returns for the week ending Jan. 31 – the first of the season and just five days long – down by 1.6 percent from the year before. It had processed 12.9 million returns, down 2.7 percent, for a processing rate of 82 percent.
READ MORE →

Tax Filings: Everything Up but Refunds

Data chartPros handled 57% of e-filings.

By Beth Bellor

With only three days left in the tax season, things finally were looking up.

MORE: What’s the Real Impact of IRS Audits? | E-Filing Pace Quickens Toward Finish | Salary Survey Shows Pay for Tax Professionals | 2 Ways the EITC Error Rate Is High | Tax Pro E-Filing Off 2.7% from Last Year’s Pace | Tax Season 2019 Serves Up a Taste of the Future | The Demise of Schedule A?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

All the figures were positive … except the one of most interest to many taxpayers. Refunds not only were in the red, but on every point by larger percentages than last week. The picture was slightly better for direct deposit refunds, but even there, average refunds dropped.
READ MORE →

Refund Amounts Remain Lower than 2018

data chart
Cumulative through week ended March 29

Tax pros handling 54.3% of e-filings, down 2 points from year ago.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

The pace of 2019 remains behind that of 2018 on most counts as the tax season stumbles to a close.

MORE: Who’d Like a Friend in the IRS? | Hello, IRS? Anybody Home? | Tax Pro E-Filing Off 2.7% from Last Year’s Pace | Tax Professionals File 38 Million Returns | Refunds Still Up, but Only by 0.7%
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The IRS had received 92.9 million individual income tax returns as of the week ending March 29, the last data available, down 1.4 percent from the same period last year. It had processed 90.3 million returns, down 2 percent.
READ MORE →

Tax Pro E-Filing Off 2.7% from Last Year’s Pace

Chart of IRS dataAverage refunds down 1%.

By Beth Bellor

As we wind down the misery that is the 2019 tax season, figures are down all over.

MORE: Wanna Change The Tax World? | Tax Season 2019 Serves Up a Taste of the Future | Tax Professionals File 38 Million Returns | The Big Free-File Flop | The Demise of Schedule A? | Refunds Still Up, but Only by 0.7%
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The number of direct deposit refunds is up, but otherwise the only “positives” are self-prepared e-filings and IRS website visits, hardly bright news.
READ MORE →