The most recent data released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the 2026 tax filing season shows a sustained rise in the average amount of federal tax refunds. Through April 17, the average refund for individual filers came in at $3,275, compared to $2,942 recorded during the same period a year earlier.
That gap translates to an 11.3% increase on a year-over-year basis, according to the report the agency published on Friday, April 25, 2026 — the most recent figures available as of this writing.
The IRS Issued $241B in Tax Refunds
The total volume of returns received through the standard April 15 deadline reached approximately 140.2 million individual filings, out of an estimated 164 million expected for the full season. The filing window had opened on January 26, 2026, consistent with the IRS’s standard calendar.
In aggregate terms, the agency issued $241.7 billion in refunds over the course of the season, an increase of $30.7 billion compared to the previous cycle — a 15% jump over the $211.1 billion distributed the year before.
Bigger Tax Refunds: The Factors Behind the Increase
The structural explanation for the higher refunds lies in changes introduced by the legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill“, signed into law in July 2025. That measure created or expanded a range of tax deductions and credits, applying them retroactively to the entirety of tax year 2025.
The IRS, however, did not update its payroll withholding tables during the year to account for those modifications. As a result, most salaried workers had federal income taxes withheld at levels exceeding their actual liability, and that surplus is now being returned in the form of larger refunds.
Tax Cuts Benefit 53M, Tip Deduction Hits $7,100 in Average
More than 53 million filers claimed at least one of the new tax deductions included in the legislation. The average tax reduction for that group exceeded $800. Among the most widely used provisions was the deduction known as “No Tax on Tips”, claimed by more than 6 million taxpayers, with an average deduction exceeding $7,100.
More than 34 million families claimed the expanded Child Tax Credit, while over 105 million took advantage of the permanently doubled standard deduction. In addition, more than 1 million filers deducted interest on loans for new vehicles assembled in the United States, at an average of more than $1,800 per case.
SALT Deduction Ceiling and Its Effect in High-Tax States
The legislation also raised the federal cap on deductions for state and local taxes (SALT), lifting it from $10,000 to $40,000 for tax year 2025. That change applies exclusively to filers who itemize their deductions rather than claiming the standard deduction.
The Treasury Department did not release disaggregated data on how many filers claimed the SALT deduction during the 2026 season. Even so, Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted the presence of “especially large refunds” in states with heavy tax burdens, which could point to a measurable effect from the new SALT ceiling in places such as California and New Jersey.
