IRS CADE Processing System Tops 15 Million Tax Returns

One quarter of all individual tax returns so far this filing season are being processed by the Internal Revenue Service's modernized account information computer system. The Customer Account Data Engine, or CADE, has processed 15.1 million individual tax returns through March 7, more than 25 percent of all those processed so far this year by the IRS. The number of tax returns processed this year by CADE has already topped the 11.2 million returns the system handled for all of last year. CADE, which is at the core of the effort to replace many of the agency's aging systems, dramatically speeds up internal IRS processing, permitting taxpayer accounts to update on a daily basis, rather than the older system's weekly basis. The IRS is rolling out CADE in a series of "releases," each improving on and adding to the system capabilities. The current release, launched in January, permits CADE to process certain 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ forms, as well as Schedules C, E and F for Form 1040 and a number of other IRS schedules, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.