The 2007 level is up about 9% from the 73 million returns filed for the same period last year. Of the 139.3 million returns filed in 2007, 79.98 million, or about 57.4%, were filed electronically.

“It was another record-breaking year for e-file,” observed IRS Acting Commissioner Linda E. Stiff. “Paper returns continue to drop year after year. E-file is the safe, accurate way for more and more taxpayers to quickly complete their taxes and get a refund faster.”

Since 2001, the number of e-filed returns has almost doubled, and over the past decade, the number of e-filers has increased four-fold.

More than 22.6 million returns have been e-filed by taxpayers doing their own returns, up from 20.3 million in the same period last year. More than 57.4 million returns were e-filed by tax professionals, up from nearly 52.9 million last year.

Meanwhile, more people this year chose to have their tax refunds directly deposited than ever before. For the year to date, the IRS has directly deposited 61.4 million refunds, up 8% from last year.

The IRS Web site - IRS.gov - also experienced a record year. The IRS recorded 196.2 million visits to IRS.gov this year, a more than 10% increase from the 177.5 million visits for the same period last year.