December 1, 2022 2:03 am

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
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Tax Glossary

Holding period

The length of time that an asset is owned and that generally determines long- or short-term capital gain treatment.

More terms