The IRS has issued roughly 8 million refunds totaling approximately $15.7 billion as of February 3, the agency announced. The average refund was $1,963, a decrease from $2,201 at the same point in the previous year’s filing season.
Obviously, the average could shift as the IRS processes millions more tax forms prior to the April 18 deadline. While the IRS has cautioned that refunds may be slightly smaller this year, experts believe it’s too early to tell for certain.
IRS Tax Refunds
The IRS has processed more than 16.7 million tax returns as of February 3, a 29% increase over the same period last year, according to research published last Friday. The previous year, there were about 4.3 million refunds given out, as opposed to about 8 million last year.
Bill Smith, national director of tax technical services at CBIZ MHM’s national tax office, claims that the more payments received may be causing the average refund to be smaller than it was during the previous season.
Eric Bronnenkant, head of tax at Betterment, a digital financial advisor, remarked, It’s difficult to take too many conclusions from a pretty short period of time.
The agency began the tax season with a larger customer support team and improved technology as it prepares to deploy the approximately $80 billion in money that Congress authorized in August.
We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, said National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins in her January report to Congress.
How To Get Tax Refund Faster?
This tax season, Smith is curious to see how quickly refunds will reach electronic filers. This is the one statistic everyone wants to know, he declared.
Refunds are normally granted within 21 days of submitting a computerized return that is error-free and includes direct deposit as payment, according to the IRS.
Bronnenkant said that you can minimize unnecessary delays by double-checking all the information on your tax return, including your address, Social Security number, and direct deposit information.
You can check the status of your return using the Where’s My Refund internet service or the IRS2Go mobile application.
However, you must wait 24 hours after electronically filing your 2022 tax return and three to four days after electronically filing your 2020 and 2021 tax returns. The status update for paper returns could take up to four weeks.