The IRS said it had received about 47 million returns as of the week ending Feb. 22. Of those returns, 38 million were filed electronically, up 5 percent from the 2007 filing season. Tax professionals were responsible for almost 26 million e-files, up slightly from last year, while self-prepared returns filed electronically jumped almost 14 percent to 12.3 million.

The tax agency said that more than 39 million returns qualified for a refund, for a total of $106.7 billion. The average refund was $2,708, up 2 percent from last year.

The IRS is encouraging taxpayers to file electronically, saying it is the fast, easy, safe and accurate way to pay taxes. The agency also reminded people that direct deposit is the fastest way to both get refunds and rebates from the economic stimulus package that Congress passed last month. So far this year, the IRS had directly deposited 33 million refunds out of the 39 million total.