PHOENIX ' The Internal Revenue Service today announced that the agency has received 135.6 million returns this year following a late surge of filings last week.

During the week ending April 21, the IRS received more than 17 million tax returns. The vast majority, 13.6 million returns, were filed through IRS e-file.

Looking at the entire tax filing season, the IRS has received 135.6 million tax returns through April 21. With the influx of returns last week, the number of filings is now close to the number of returns from last year's filing season.

With the mid-April filings, the number of refunds issued this year swelled to 97 million worth $268.3 billion. The average refund was $2,763, up slightly from last year's average of $2,711.

Taxpayers have filed 11.6 million extension forms this filing season, up 0.9 percent compared to the same time last year. The vast majority of extensions were e-filed, 9.7 million, an increase of 11 percent from the same time last year.

An extension form filed by the deadline allows a taxpayer to hold off on filing the actual tax return for six months, although any tax due must have been paid by the April 18 deadline to avoid interest and penalties.

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