Breadcrumb

TIGTA's Interim Report on the IRS Filing Season: More E-Filing From Home Computers

April 16, 2014

TIGTA - 2014-06 David Barnes David.barnes@tigta.treas.gov TIGTACommunications@tigta.treas.gov (202) 622-3062

TIGTA’s Interim Report on the IRS Filing Season: More E-Filing From Home Computers

WASHINGTON - Despite a late start, the IRS has issued more in tax refunds ($164.6 million as

of March 7, 2014) than this time last year and more taxpayers are using their home computers to

file their tax returns, according to a report published today by the Treasury Inspector General for

Tax Administration (TIGTA).

“The filing season at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is critical because it is during this time

that most individuals file their income tax returns and contact the IRS if they have questions

about specific laws or filing procedures,” said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for

Tax Administration. TIGTA plans to issue the final results of its review of the 2014 Filing

Season in September 2014, he added.

As a result of the 16-day Government shutdown at the beginning of the fiscal year, the IRS

delayed the start of the filing season from January 21, 2014, to January 31, 2014. As of

March 7, 2014, the IRS had received more than 67.1 million tax returns-more than 62.2 million

(92.6 percent) were filed electronically and less than five million (7.4 percent) were filed on

paper. During this period of time, more taxpayers used their home computers to file their returns

in 2014 (27.4 million, up from 25.9 million last year) and fewer used tax preparers (34.8 million

used preparers, down from 35.6 million last year). The IRS has issued more than 55.4 million

refunds totaling more than $164 billion.

The IRS continues to expand identity theft filters to identify fraudulent tax returns, TIGTA

found. As of February 28, 2014, the IRS reported that it identified and confirmed

28,076 fraudulent tax returns involving identity theft. In addition, the IRS identified 57,316 tax

returns with $385 million claimed in fraudulent refunds and prevented the issuance of

$336 million (87.3 percent) of the fraudulent refunds it identified. The IRS also identified

36,801 prisoner tax returns for screening.

The use of the split-refund option to direct-deposit a refund into multiple bank accounts

continues to grow. Through March 6, 2014, a total of 585,331 individuals chose to split refunds

totaling more than $2.6 billion into multiple accounts. However, TIGTA continues to identify

that some taxpayers and return preparers misuse this option to direct a portion of a tax refund to a

preparer for payment of services.

TIGTA also found that some paid tax return preparers continue to be noncompliant with Earned

Income Tax Credit due-diligence requirements, but the number has decreased substantially when

compared to the same period last filing season.

Finally, the IRS plans to assist 5.6 million taxpayers through face-to-face contact at the Taxpayer

Assistance Centers during Fiscal Year 2014, which is one million fewer taxpayers than were

assisted during Fiscal Year 2013. As of March 8, 2014, approximately 46.3 million taxpayers

contacted the IRS by calling one of the various toll-free Customer Account Services lines. The

IRS continues to offer more self-assistance options that taxpayers can access 24 hours a day,

seven days a week, including its IRS2Go app; YouTube channels; interactive self-help tools on

IRS.gov; and Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook accounts. However, the IRS did not always ensure

that the self-help tools were updated with the most current tax information before the start of the

filing season.

This report was prepared to provide interim information only. Therefore, no recommendations

were made in the report.

Read the report.