{"id":41138,"date":"2026-02-13T12:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41138"},"modified":"2026-02-13T12:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:48:12","slug":"average-tax-refund-is-up-22-bessent-says-what-filers-can-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41138","title":{"rendered":"Average tax refund is up 22%, Bessent says \u2014 what filers can expect"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hispanolistic | E+ | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The average tax refund<\/a> is 22% higher so far this season, Treasury Secretary and acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday. <\/p>\n

The 2026 tax season opened Jan. 26<\/a>, and the IRS has not yet released official filing data<\/a>. It’s unclear how many days of returns Bessent’s figure reflects or what comparison period he used.<\/p>\n

However, “early data can be deceiving,” Andrew Lautz, director of tax policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center, a nonprofit think tank, wrote in a tax season guide<\/a> on Jan. 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2025, the\u00a0average refund<\/a> for individual filers was $3,052 through Oct. 17, according to the IRS.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more CNBC personal finance coverage<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Typically, filers receive a refund when they overpay taxes throughout the year via paycheck withholdings<\/a> or estimated payments<\/a>. Alternatively, filers owe a balance when they don’t pay enough. <\/p>\n

In recent years, IRS data has reflected a smaller refund during the beginning of the tax season, but those payments have “risen sharply” in mid-February once the IRS starts issuing refunds that include the earned income tax credit<\/a> or additional child tax credit,<\/a> Lautz wrote. <\/p>\n

After the February peak, the average refund has “declined slightly” through the April 15 deadline, he wrote. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Filers expecting bigger tax refunds<\/h2>\n
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For the 2026 filing season, the size of tax refunds has been a key political topic with the midterm elections approaching.\u00a0<\/p>\n

President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a> has promised that 2026 will be the “largest tax refund season of all time<\/a>” based on changes enacted via his “big beautiful bill.” <\/p>\n

The legislation added new tax breaks<\/a> for 2025, and the IRS did not\u00a0adjust paycheck withholdings<\/a>, which could result in refunds for many workers. <\/p>\n

However, there could be “a lot of variation between taxpayers,” Garrett Watson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation, previously told CNBC<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, the size of your refund, or balance due, depends on which new tax breaks apply to your situation and how much you paid throughout the year, experts say.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hispanolistic | E+ | Getty Images The average tax refund is 22% higher so far this season, Treasury…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":41139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-investing","8":"cs-entry","9":"cs-video-wrap"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}