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The average tax refund is 10.9% greater thus far this season, in comparison with about the identical level in 2025, in keeping with early submitting information from the IRS.
The 2026 tax season opened Jan. 26, and the average refund amount was $2,290 as of Feb. 6, up from $2,065 about one yr prior, the IRS reported Friday night time.
As of Feb. 6, the whole quantity refunded was greater than $16.9 billion, up 1.9% in comparison with final yr, in keeping with the IRS launch. That determine displays current-year returns solely.
Earlier on Friday, Treasury Secretary and performing IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent advised CNBC’s “Squawk Field” that refunds have been up 22%. However it was unclear what number of days of returns Bessent’s determine mirrored or what comparability interval he used.
The Treasury Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The IRS launch mentioned “common refund quantities are sturdy,” and the determine will improve within the Feb. 27 launch as soon as the company begins issuing refunds that embody earned income tax credit or extra child tax credit.
“Early information [for refunds] may be deceiving,” Andrew Lautz, director of tax coverage for the Bipartisan Coverage Heart, a nonprofit suppose tank, wrote in a tax season guide on Jan. 22.
Usually, filers obtain a refund once they overpay taxes all year long by way of paycheck withholdings or estimated payments. Alternatively, filers owe a stability once they do not pay sufficient.
In recent times, IRS information has mirrored a smaller refund through the starting of the tax season, however these funds have “risen sharply” in mid-February, Lautz wrote.
After the February peak, the common refund has “declined barely” by the April 15 deadline, he wrote.
In 2025, the average refund for particular person filers was $3,052 by Oct. 17, in keeping with the IRS.
Filers might see greater tax refunds
For the 2026 submitting season, the scale of tax refunds has been a key political subject with the midterm elections approaching.
President Donald Trump has promised that 2026 would be the “largest tax refund season of all time” primarily based on adjustments enacted by way of his “large stunning invoice.”
The laws added new tax breaks for 2025, and the IRS didn’t adjust paycheck withholdings, which might end in refunds for a lot of employees.
Nevertheless, there may very well be “a number of variation between taxpayers,” Garrett Watson, director of coverage evaluation on the Tax Basis, previously told CNBC.
Finally, the scale of your refund, or stability due, relies on which new tax breaks apply to your state of affairs and the way a lot you paid all year long, specialists say.
