{"id":27327,"date":"2026-04-07T00:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=27327"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:51:23","slug":"average-tax-refund-is-up-350-compared-to-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=27327","title":{"rendered":"Average tax refund is up $350 compared to last year"},"content":{"rendered":"<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\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108267459\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Antonio Garcia Recena | Moment | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>The\u00a0average tax refund\u00a0is about $350 higher so far this season, compared with about the same period in 2025, according to the latest IRS filing data.<\/p>\n<p>As of March 27, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/filing-season-statistics-for-week-ending-march-27-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">average refund amount<\/a>\u00a0for individual filers was $3,521, up from $3,170 roughly one year ago, the IRS reported on Friday. <\/p>\n<p>The IRS data reflects about 88.4 million individual returns received, out of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/irs-opens-2026-filing-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">about 164 million expected<\/a> 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 class=\"RelatedContent-header\">Read more CNBC personal finance coverage<\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<ul>\n<li>Robinhood, BNY to build Trump accounts app<\/li>\n<li>New college grads face a tough job market \u2014 why unemployment hits them harder<\/li>\n<li>AI has a big problem when it comes to financial advice, MIT professor says<\/li>\n<li>Older Americans can find free tax filing help as big changes hit this season<\/li>\n<li>As 401(k) balances swell, financial experts warn of retirement planning pitfalls<\/li>\n<li>Teen sports betting raises concerns in schools, and a financial literacy push<\/li>\n<li>Market volatility poses a serious risk for new retirees. Here&#8217;s how to prepare<\/li>\n<li>Trump&#8217;s overtime deduction is a &#8216;home run,&#8217; Treasury says. How it could change<\/li>\n<li>Stock market is in for &#8216;choppy, bumpy ride,&#8217; strategist says. Here&#8217;s how to play it<\/li>\n<li>Parents with student loans have limited time to secure forgiveness, affordable bills<\/li>\n<li>Social Security needs more money. The question is, who will pay?<\/li>\n<li>Should you &#8216;buy the dip&#8217; amid the latest stock market volatility? What experts say<\/li>\n<li>Boston Fed: Credit card APRs have &#8216;economically meaningful&#8217; impact on spending<\/li>\n<li>Retirement saver protection rule has died \u2014 for the second time<\/li>\n<li>CNBC&#8217;s Financial Advisor 100: Best financial advisors, top firms ranked<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>This season, many filers are seeing bigger tax refunds based on changes enacted by President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/one-big-beautiful-bill-provisions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">big beautiful bill<\/a>&#8221; in July.<\/p>\n<p>Most U.S. workers are W-2 employees, which means companies pay their taxes throughout the year via paycheck withholdings. <\/p>\n<p>Although Trump&#8217;s legislation included 2025 tax cuts, the IRS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/irs-announces-no-changes-to-individual-information-returns-or-withholding-tables-for-2025-under-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">didn&#8217;t update withholding tables<\/a>, and many workers overpaid taxes through the rest of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, you can expect a tax refund when you overpay taxes. Alternatively, you may have a balance due when you didn&#8217;t pay enough. <\/p>\n<p>The size of tax refunds has been a focus for Republicans as the November midterm elections approach. The GOP has pointed to bigger average refunds triggered by Trump&#8217;s tax breaks as many Americans struggle with affordability. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\"><a id=\"headline0\"><\/a>How Trump&#8217;s legislation is affecting returns<\/h2>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Nearly 50% of the tax returns filed in 2026 have included one of Trump&#8217;s &#8220;signature campaign policies&#8221; \u2014 the deductions for tip income, overtime earnings, seniors and auto loan interest \u2014 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in late March during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/video\/6392148735112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Fox &amp; Friends&#8221; interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bessent said the overtime deduction has been a &#8220;home run,&#8221; claimed on 25% of returns received by the IRS, which amounted to almost 20 million filings, as of March 20.<\/p>\n<p>In a Jan. 26\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/articles\/2026\/01\/president-trump-delivers-largest-tax-refund-season-in-u-s-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">release<\/a>, the White House said the average taxpayer could\u00a0receive an extra $1,000\u00a0or more, citing early October data from investment bank Piper Sandler.\u00a0But so far, average tax refunds have been smaller, according to IRS data.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are seeing an uptick in refunds,&#8221; Tom O&#8217;Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals, said during a press call last week.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know that it&#8217;s substantial, but one person&#8217;s substantial is another person&#8217;s pittance,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108282706\">\n<div role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108282706\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000407795\" 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><span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ArticleBody-googlePreferredSourceContainer\" data-module=\"GooglePreferredSource\" data-id=\"RegularArticle-GooglePreferredSource-5\">Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/04\/06\/average-tax-refund.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Antonio Garcia Recena | Moment | Getty Images The\u00a0average tax refund\u00a0is about $350 higher so far this season, compared with about the same period in 2025, according to the latest IRS filing data. As of March 27, the\u00a0average refund amount\u00a0for individual filers was $3,521, up from $3,170 roughly one year ago, the IRS reported on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[396,5489,101,97,257],"class_list":{"0":"post-27327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finance-news","8":"tag-average","9":"tag-compared","10":"tag-refund","11":"tag-tax","12":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}