{"id":42330,"date":"2026-03-20T19:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=42330"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:05:07","slug":"average-irs-tax-refund-is-up-10-8-new-filing-data-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=42330","title":{"rendered":"Average IRS tax refund is up 10.8%, new filing data shows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108280963\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Granger Wootz | Tetra Images | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/03\/20\/smaller-tax-refunds.html\">average tax refund<\/a>\u00a0is 10.8% higher so far this season, compared to about the same period in 2025, according to the latest IRS filing data.<\/p>\n<p>As of Mar. 13, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/filing-season-statistics-for-week-ending-march-13-2026\" target=\"_blank\">average refund amount<\/a>\u00a0for individual filers was $3,623, up from $3,271 about one year ago, the IRS reported on Friday. <\/p>\n<p>The IRS data reflects roughly 69.7 million individual returns received, out of about 164 million expected through the April 15 deadline.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-relatedContent\" id=\"RegularArticle-RelatedContent-1\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-container\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-nonCollapsibleContent\">\n<h2 id=\"read-more-cnbc-personal-finance-coverage\" class=\"RelatedContent-header\">Read more CNBC personal finance coverage<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>The latest filing data comes as both parties focus on Americans\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/24\/affordability-is-a-buzzword-right-now-these-charts-show-why.html\">affordability concerns<\/a> ahead of the midterm elections. <\/p>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> has said this will be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/18\/trump-bigger-tax-refunds.html\">\u201clargest tax refund season of all time<\/a>\u201d following the 2025 changes enacted via his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/07\/03\/trump-big-beautiful-bill-tax-changes.html\">\u201cbig beautiful bill.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, many Americans are facing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/03\/17\/iran-war-oil-price-surge-worsen-k-shaped-economy-say-economists.html\">rising gasoline prices<\/a> amid the Iran war. The national average <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/oil-gas\/\">gasoline<\/a> price reached <a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">$3.91 a gallon on Friday<\/a>, up from about $2.93 per gallon from one month ago, according to AAA.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The spiking gas prices could <a href=\"https:\/\/nealemahoney.substack.com\/p\/spiking-gasoline-prices-may-wipe\" target=\"_blank\">offset higher tax refunds<\/a> from this season, according an analysis published this week from a professor of economics at Stanford University. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe energy shock is going to hit those who have the least cushion \u2026 and it doesn\u2019t look like those tax refunds are going to be here to save them,\u201d Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning economic policy think tank, said during a press call on Friday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"average-tax-refund-changes\" class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\"><a id=\"headline0\"\/>Average tax refund changes<\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>This season, the average refund size <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/27\/average-irs-tax-refund.html\">peaked at $3,804<\/a> on Feb. 20, up from $3,453 about one year prior, and has gradually declined over the past three weeks of IRS filing updates.<\/p>\n<p>The mid-February jump is common once payments start reflecting refunds that include<strong> <\/strong>the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/27\/earned-income-tax-credit-eligibility-2025.html\">earned income tax credit<\/a> or the refundable part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/02\/06\/trump-child-tax-credit.html\">child tax credit<\/a>, known as the additional child tax credit or ACTC.<\/p>\n<p>While the White House in early January said the average refund could increase \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/01\/30\/tax-refunds.html\">by $1,000 or more<\/a>,\u201d payments have been lower so far this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tom O\u2019Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals, told CNBC he has filed around 200 returns so far this season.  <\/p>\n<p>Those receiving refunds have seen about a few hundred dollars difference compared to last year, he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, your tax refund or balance due depends on several factors, including which of Trump\u2019s tax breaks impact your situation and how much you paid in 2025 via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/02\/14\/withhold-taxes-paycheck.html\">paycheck withholdings<\/a>, experts say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108265885\">\n<div role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108265885\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000403982\" data-test=\"VideoPlaceHolder\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-videoEmbed\" id=\"InlineVideo-0\" data-test=\"InlineVideo\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-inlineThumbnailContainer\"><span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"\/><span\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ArticleBody-googlePreferredSourceContainer\" data-module=\"GooglePreferredSource\" data-id=\"RegularArticle-GooglePreferredSource-5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/03\/20\/average-irs-tax-refund.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Granger Wootz | Tetra Images | Getty Images The\u00a0average tax refund\u00a0is 10.8% higher so far this season, compared&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-investing","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42330","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=42330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}