Millions of returns will flood IRS in final week

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service expects to get 52 million returns during the last days of the tax filing season, almost 40 percent of all the returns filed this year.

IRS officials expect taxpayers with complicated returns, and those who owe the government money, will wait until the last minute before the April 15 deadline to file.

More than 80 million of the 132 million tax returns expected this year had been received at the IRS by last Friday, many of them arriving electronically. The number of returns filed electronically increased 10 percent over last year. The biggest jump -- 27 percent -- is among those who use a home computer to prepare their returns.

Many more taxpayers also have their refunds electronically deposited directly into their bank accounts.

The average return this year is just pennies away from $2,000, up slightly from last year.