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." 
| Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 yr fixed | 3.77% | 3.60% | |
| 15 yr fixed | 2.88% | 2.74% | |
| 5/1 ARM | 2.66% | 2.54% | |
| 30 yr refi | 3.76% | 3.58% | |
| 15 yr refi | 2.88% | 2.73% |
Today's featured rates:
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 15,300.45 | 5.95 | 0.04% |
| Nasdaq | 3,456.84 | -2.58 | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | 1,649.06 | -1.45 | -0.09% |
| Treasuries | 2.01 | -0.01 | -0.59% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 13.18 | -0.03 | -0.19% |
| General Electric Co | 23.57 | -0.09 | -0.40% |
| Pfizer Inc | 29.03 | -0.08 | -0.27% |
| Microsoft Corp | 34.17 | 0.02 | 0.06% |
| Intel Corp | 23.80 | -0.25 | -1.06% |
|
The fuss over Apple's complex strategies to avoid taxes put the corporate tax code on display in all its convoluted glory this week. More |
The 79 tornadoes that hit over three days in 10 states caused billions in losses, with most of damage concentrated in Moore, Oklahoma. More |
Users are flocking to a new email program. More |
Vermont, a patent-rich state, is cracking down on so-called "patent trolling," a growing problem for entrepreneurs nationwide. More |
New residents are flocking to these 10 cities, which added the largest number of residents between July 2011 and July 2012, according to Census Bureau. More |
.
