The IRS entered Filing Season (FS) 2026 facing a difficult set of challenges, including implementing sweeping new legislation, continuing technology transformation, scaling up digitization of paper-filed returns, advancing the transition from paper checks to direct deposit, and doing all of this with fewer employees than in prior years. In many respects, the IRS met that moment.
Among the key FS 2026 achievements, the IRS:
- Processed almost 99% of received individual returns by the end of filing season;
- Digitized over 750,000 more paper-filed Forms 1040 than in FS 2025;
- Implemented changes to programming, tax forms, and instructions for over 100 changes to the tax code in calendar year 2025;
- Reduced the number of paper check refunds issued from January 1 through May 26, 2026, to 2.2 million from 8.4 million during the same period in 2025; and
- Increased the percentage of taxpayers receiving refunds by direct deposit to about 98%, up from 94% at the same point last year.
At the same time, several longstanding challenges persisted or worsened, particularly for taxpayers who required assistance beyond routine automated processing:
- Live assistors answered 20% fewer calls than last filing season;
- Call volume to voicebots increased by 4%, but voicebots completed only 17% of calls, with most callers transferring to a live assistor or disconnecting;
- The average time to close Identity Theft Victim Assistance cases remained extremely high at 600 days for fiscal year 2026;
- Inventory requiring manual processing as of April 18, 2026, increased by roughly 17% compared to last filing season; and
- The number of fully staffed Taxpayer Assistance Centers fell to 42, down from 102 in FS 2025.
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