Now that April 15 is in our rearview mirror, it’s a wrap on the regular tax season—but the IRS is still processing returns and sorting through data. The IRS has released updated filing season data through April 10, 2026, and the numbers aren’t remarkably different from earlier in the tax filing season.

As it has for most of the year, filing activity remains slightly behind last year. The IRS reports receiving 114.3 million individual income tax returns so far, down from 117.6 million at the same point in 2025—a 2.8% decline. Processing numbers track closely with that trend, with 113.6 million returns processed compared to 116.3 million last year, a 2.3% drop.

Earlier data had already hinted that taxpayers might be taking a bit longer to file this year, and the cumulative totals suggest that pattern has held. Whether it's timing, more complicated returns, or simple procrastination, the result is that fewer returns have made it into the system so far.

As in prior years, early filers tend to have simpler returns, while those with business income, investments, or itemized deductions often wait until closer to the deadline. If that dynamic holds, the final days of the season could still bring a surge of last-minute filings, but we won’t know that until next week (April 24, 2026).

How Taxpayers Are Filing

Electronic filing continues to dominate. Of the 114.3 million........

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