A new report by Nielsen/NetRatings shows traffic to tax sites on the Internet is on the rise.

The market research firm says traffic to approximately 29 top tax sites was up 26 percent during the first week of February from the same time a year ago.

That translates into 11 percent of the active Internet universe, or more than 14 million users. And it suggests a good portion of Internet users are getting an early start on the 2006 tax season

H&R Block led the fastest growing tax sites with an 84 percent jump, to 2.3 million visitors. Taxcut.com followed with an 81 percent increase, followed by a 41 percent gain by IRS.com.