Average tax refund this year: $3,129

By Blake Ellis, staff reporter


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- As tax season kicks into gear, the Internal Revenue Service is doling out refunds averaging more than $3,000 so far this year.

Nearly 52 million Americans have already filed their taxes, with more than 45 million of those taxpayers collecting refunds, according to the latest filing statistics from the IRS.

The average refund has been $3,129 so far, while direct deposit refunds are averaging $3,257.

However, the average usually declines as tax season progresses because people getting the biggest refunds typically file their taxes the fastest. Last year, the average refund was closer to $3,000.

"A lot of times people have their withholding taxes artificially high during the year and plan for this large refund to fund a vacation or car or something like that," said Robert Willens, a professor of taxation at Columbia Business School and president of a tax consulting firm. "Even though it's not a good economic thing to do since they're essentially making an interest-free loan to the government."

The number of taxpayers who filed their returns online has risen more than 2%, to nearly 47 million. About 28 million of these filers had their taxes prepared by professionals this year -- little changed from last year.

But an increasing number of people are choosing to prepare their own returns. In fact, the number of people self-preparing their taxes online has jumped 6% from the same period last year, to nearly 19 million.

"This is just part and parcel of the technology revolution," said Willens. "You can now take advantage of programs that take the mystery out of doing your taxes, so people are feeling that there's less need to hire an outside party, recognizing that the outside party will probably use the same programs." To top of page

 
Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Overnight Avg Rate Latest Change Last Week
30 yr fixed3.80%3.88%
15 yr fixed3.20%3.23%
5/1 ARM3.84%3.88%
30 yr refi3.82%3.93%
15 yr refi3.20%3.23%
Rate data provided
by Bankrate.com
View rates in your area
 
Find personalized rates:
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.