As of March 17, the IRS had given out about 54 million tax refunds totaling about $158 billion. This is because the tax deadline is coming up soon.
In January, the IRS told tax filers that their refunds might be "a little bit lower." So far, this has been true for many tax filers.
In fact, the average refund payment was $2,933, which was less than last year's average of $3,305 at the same time.
But the average amount could change if more people file before April 18, which is the federal deadline for most people.
Bill Smith, the national director of tax technical services at CBIZ MHM's national tax office, said that the end of pandemic relief is likely to cause refunds to be smaller in 2023.
For instance, in 2021, the enhanced child tax credit, which was worth up to $3,600 per child, and the child and dependent care tax credit
But these tax breaks have gone back to what they were before. For 2022, the child tax credit went back up
to a maximum of $2,000 per child, and the child and dependent care tax credit went up to $1,050 per dependent.
Smith also said that data from the same week of the filing season in 2021 shows that the average refund was about the same as the most recent data.
As of March 19, 2021, the average tax refund was $2,929, which is only $4 less than what was said on Friday.