By the Numbers 2024

January 7, 2024

Welcome 2024. For the second consecutive tax year, filing season is mostly back to pre-COVID normal.

We’re again dealing with the usual tax calendar and deadlines. And Congress didn’t throw any last-minute tax changes into the mix at the end of 2023, so form updates are nominal.

Beyond that, an Internal Revenue Service flush with new money from the Inflation Reduction Act is looking to do a better job of helping taxpayers file, and then processing those millions of tax returns.

The number of filings is exactly the kind of thing you can expect to see in the ol’ blog’s By the Numbers (BtN) count. In fact, 4.2 million such returns made it onto the 2022 numbers page.

Last year, the BtN focus was on more specific filings, like the 12,617 confirmed fraudulent filings that the IRS caught, saving Treasury, and us taxpayers, $105.3 million.

Of course, the main reason for filing, and doing so early, for millions of Americans is to get their refunds.

That’s why the first By the Numbers post of this new 2024 year and tax filing season is 21, as in the 21-day turnaround time that is the IRS’ goal when it comes to getting refunds into taxpayer hands.

What counts? Taxes are, of course, all about the digits. But when it comes to keeping count on the ol’ blog, BtN recognition can go to just about any and every thing that can be connected in even a remote way to taxes.

The potential figures range from tax rate percentages to dollar amounts to titles of tax legislation to raw numbers and more. Much, much more.

If it can be associated (per my judgement) with taxes, federal or state, it counts!

And yes, I am the final judge and arbiter. So youf know sometimes the math might not seem to add up. No worries. This isn’t something the IRS is going to audit

Weekend counting: In keeping with the counting tradition, the By the Numbers honorees will be added to this page’s running roster after they are highlighted in a post.

That usually will be on Sundays. Sometimes, though, a number gets early recognition, showing up on Saturday or even at the end of the traditional work week. And if some breaking tax news forces its way onto the ol’ blog on Sunday, then the number will appear the next week.

But whenever they show up, they are counted.

Regardless of the timing, you can always find the numbers at the links in the ol’ blog’s right column under the multicolored numbers box, the same one that’s pictured at the top of this page. A click on the image will take you to the BtN category showing all the figures that have been featured. A click on the red By the Numbers text under the image will bring you to this collection of the 2024 tax numbers, with the most recent figure and blog post at the top of the list.

So here we go into the 14th year of the ol’ blog’s numerical tradition, with a jumpstart from the last BtN honoree of 2023.

Dec. 31
Tax matters that matter on December 31 (Dec. 29, 2024)
$2.4 billion
IRS sending up to $1,400 to 1 million who missed out on COVID stimulus checks in 2021 (Dec. 22, 2024)
15% to 25%
15%-to-25% tax rate range is part of proposed internet gambling template (Dec. 15, 2024)
$5,000 / $2,5000 / $600
Form 1099-K to be issued for 2024 marketplace earnings of more than $5,000 (Dec. 8, 2024)
10
10 tax moves to make this December (Dec. 1, 2024)
Dec. 2 through Dec. 6
What do online holiday shopping and taxes share? Identity theft threats (Nov. 24, 2024)
$105,000
Don’t need your RMD? Give up to $105,000 of it as a QCD (Nov. 17, 2024)
Nov. 11
Veterans’ contributions to the U.S. economy, and a tax break for companies that hire vets (Nov. 10, 2024)
$1.4 billion
IRS missing $1.4 billion in tax due from unreported gambling winnings (Nov. 3, 2024)
Nov. 1
Nov. 1 is deadline for disaster-area taxpayers in 8 states (Oct. 27, 2024)
$696 billion
New Tax Gap estimate hits $696 billion (Oct. 20, 2024)
400,000 and $10 billion
IRS processing 400,000 ERC claims worth $10 billion (Oct. 13, 2024)
$10 million
Alcohol taxes would fund $10 million Ohio music incubator (Oct. 6, 2024)
$61,000 to $183,000
Are you still in the shrinking U.S. middle class? (Sept. 29, 2024)
Oct. 1, 2024
IRS operation plans if the government shuts down on 10/1 (Sept. 22, 2024)
$96.7 billion
Undocumented immigrants in U.S. pay nearly $100 billion in federal and state taxes (Sept. 15, 2024)
Nov. 4
IRS seeks public input on retirement Saver’s Match (Sept. 8, 2024)
20
Direct File states reach 20, with Maine & Wisconsin joining the IRS free tax prep program (Sept. 1, 2024)
9
9 states join Uncle Sam in taxing at least some Social Security benefits (Aug. 25, 2024)
18
Connecticut & North Carolina to join IRS Direct File in 2025 (Aug. 18, 2024)
Section 280E
Expected marijuana rescheduling should reduce cannabis businesses’ federal taxes (Aug. 11, 2024)
16
New Mexico & Pennsylvania will join Direct File in 2025 (Aug. 4, 2024)
14
OR, NJ join Direct File, as GOP seeks to end the IRS-run free tax prep/efiling program (July 28, 2024)
$1.10
Kentucky cigarette tax seems to have reduced smoking (July 21, 2024)
7
7 states hiked fuels tax rates on July 1 (July 14, 2024)
12
Oklahoma’s grocery sales tax ends in late August (July 7, 2024)
11.26 years
IRS Whistleblower Office awards more than doubled in FY23, but it still faces substantial backlog (June 30, 2024)
$556,685,001
Treasury gets $556M from COVID relief airline warrants (June 23, 2024)
$1+ billion
Treasury issues $1B+ in point-of-sale clean vehicle tax credits (June 16, 2024)
1 million
IRS receives 1 millionth uploaded tax document (June 9, 2024)
June 17, 2024 third time’s a charm?
June 17 is Tax Day for disaster victims in 8 states (June 2, 2024)
138
Capitol Hill Democrats and Independents want IRS Direct File to be permanent (May 26, 2024)
Sept. 3, 2024
Ohio tornado victims have new Sept. 3 tax filing deadline (May 19, 2024)
May 12, 2024
Moms still waiting on this Mother’s Day for increased Child Tax Credit gift from Congress (May 12, 2024)
140,803
Direct File usage exceeded expectations, but future of IRS-run free tax prep program unclear (May 5, 2024)
Form 1099-DA
IRS unveils draft 1099-DA for future digital asset transaction reporting (April 28, 2024)
April 22
Taking environmental care of our personal homes and home planet on Earth Day 2024 (April 21, 2024)
Form 4868
Can’t finish your taxes? File for an extension instead (April 14, 2024)
300 and 95%
Tax firm specializes in services for deaf filers (April 7, 2024)
July 15 and Aug. 7
Alaska landslides move Tax Day to July 15; Hawai’i fire victims’ tax time extended to Aug. 7 (March 30, 2024)
$1 billion+
IRS ERC compliance efforts tops $1 billion (March 24, 2024)
17
Where mansion tax money goes in the 17 locales collecting it (March 17, 2024)
June 17, 2024 redux
Disaster-stricken residents of 8 states now have June 17 as new Tax Day (March 10, 2024)
April 15
Tax-favored retirement savings hit new highs, and there’s still time to add to 2023 accounts (March 3, 2024)
March 15
Want to improve the IRS? Apply for a TAP spot by March 15 (Feb. 25, 2024)
20.5 percent
Legal sports betting is a growing source of state tax revenue (Feb. 18, 2024)
June 17, 2024
June 17 is new tax deadline for WV disaster victims (Feb. 11, 2024)
Feb. 17-19 and Feb. 23-25
Attention Alabama & Maryland shoppers: Special sales tax holiday savings come your way in February (Feb. 4, 2024)
No Numbers on Jan. 28; instead a post related to the start of the 2024 filing season on Jan. 29, 2024.
H.R. 7035
Another GOP attempt to repeal the federal estate tax (Jan. 21, 2024)
Forms 3468, 3800, 7207, 7210, 8835, 8933, and 8936 Schedule A
IRS delays processing of some business tax forms (Jan. 14, 2024)
21
When will you get your federal tax refund? It depends (Jan. 7, 2024)
43,944
Odometer check time and other business mileage tax basics (Dec. 31, 2023)

Need more numbers? You can recount the featured figures from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.