Statistics on 2020 Tax Reporting

The latest IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin (Publication 1304 (Rev. 11-2022) (irs.gov)) show that 164.4 million individual income tax returns were filed for 2020, or 4.2% more than in the previous tax year. Only 9.5% of all returns filed claimed itemized deductions; the vast majority used the applicable standard deduction amount.

The 2020 return reflected various COVID-19 related tax changes enacted by the CARES Act of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, including:

• Exclusion for unemployment benefits up to $10,200: taken on 14.7 million returns.
• Charitable contribution deduction by nonitemizers up to $300: taken on 41.4 million returns.
• Recovery rebate credit (for those who did not receive some or all of their economic impact payment): claimed on 31 million returns.
• Qualified sick and family leave credit for self-employed individuals: claimed on nearly 1 million returns