The Internal Revenue Service reports receiving more than 80 million tax returns as of April 1, slightly less than the number sent this time last year.
More than 52 million, or 65 percent, of those returns were sent electronically. The percentage of electronically filed returns will probably decline somewhat as the April 15 deadline gets closer, but the IRS expects that for the first time, a majority of taxpayers will file electronically.
More taxpayers this year have chosen to buy software and file their taxes from home, about 14 percent more than last year.
The tax agency expects 40 million returns will arrive at the IRS during the last two to three weeks of the filing season. The IRS also expects about 9 million people to file for an automatic extension of the April 15 filing deadline.