{"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":"

\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n

Granger Wootz | Tetra Images | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The\u00a0average 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

As of Mar. 13, the\u00a0average refund amount<\/a>\u00a0for individual filers was $3,623, up from $3,271 about one year ago, the IRS reported on Friday. <\/p>\n

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

\n
\n
\n
\n

Read more CNBC personal finance coverage<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

The latest filing data comes as both parties focus on Americans’ affordability concerns<\/a> ahead of the midterm elections. <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> has said this will be the “largest tax refund season of all time<\/a>” following the 2025 changes enacted via his “big beautiful bill.”<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, many Americans are facing rising gasoline prices<\/a> amid the Iran war. The national average gasoline<\/a> price reached $3.91 a gallon on Friday<\/a>, up from about $2.93 per gallon from one month ago, according to AAA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spiking gas prices could offset higher tax refunds<\/a> from this season, according an analysis published this week from a professor of economics at Stanford University. <\/p>\n

“The energy shock is going to hit those who have the least cushion … and it doesn’t look like those tax refunds are going to be here to save them,” 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

Average tax refund changes<\/h2>\n
\n

This season, the average refund size 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

The mid-February jump is common once payments start reflecting refunds that include <\/strong>the earned income tax credit<\/a> or the refundable part of the child tax credit<\/a>, known as the additional child tax credit or ACTC.<\/p>\n

While the White House in early January said the average refund could increase “by $1,000 or more<\/a>,” payments have been lower so far this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tom O’Saben, 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

Those receiving refunds have seen about a few hundred dollars difference compared to last year, he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

However, your tax refund or balance due depends on several factors, including which of Trump’s tax breaks impact your situation and how much you paid in 2025 via paycheck withholdings<\/a>, experts say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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
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…\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}]}}