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Tax refunds are higher so far this year, the IRS says. Here’s the average refund amount.
The IRS said it’s issuing bigger tax refunds compared with a year earlier, signalling a potential boon for Americans who rely on their annual refund to help pay down debt, start an emergency fund or deal with rising costs.
As of February 16, the average tax refund is $3,207, the IRS said in its latest tax season update. That’s 2.1% higher than the same period a year ago.
The bigger average refund marks a reversal from the dip that the typical taxpayer experienced in 2023, when refunds were 3% lower due to the expiration of pandemic tax benefits. That proved to be a double whammy for households already hit by inflation, which has pushed up prices of everything from food to housing.
But this year, some taxpayers are receiving bigger refunds after the IRS adjusted many of its provisions for inflation, pushing the standard deduction and tax brackets about 7% higher for the 2023 tax year, which is the period for which taxpayers are now filing their taxes.
Workers whose pay didn’t keep up with inflation last year are likely to get bigger tax refunds — up to 10% more, Jackson Hewitt chief tax information officer Mark Steber told CBS MoneyWatch earlier this year. Tax refunds, which often represent a household’s biggest annual influx of cash, are likely to be used to pay for necessities by 4 in 10 taxpayers who expect a refund this year, according to a recent Credit Karma poll.
Here’s what to know about this year’s tax refund amount.
Are tax refunds higher in 2024?
The IRS on Friday said that the typical tax refund is about 2.1% higher than a year ago. That means the average taxpayer through February 16 has received about $3,207 from the tax agency, compared with $3,140 at the same time a year earlier.
Still, there are seven weeks remaining in the current tax season, which means that the data could fluctuate until the IRS stops accepting tax returns on April 15. (Tax filers can also ask for an automatic extension, which gives them until October 15 to file their tax forms.)
So far, about 34.7 million people have filed tax returns, a fraction of the 146 million individual tax returns that the IRS expects this year.
Will I get a bigger tax refund in 2024?
That depends on your individual circumstances, ranging from income to life changes, such as whether you welcomed a new child to your family, bought a house or got married.
And some taxpayers could end up owing more in 2024, such as if they took on a side gig last year to offset the impact of inflation and didn’t pay quarterly self-employment taxes. And there are other issues that could lower your refund, such as families with teenage children who aged out of the $2,000 child tax credit, since only kids under 17 qualify for the benefit.
You can get a sense of your 2024 refund by using a tax refund calculator, a tool offered by tax prep companies such as H&R Block as well as financial sites like Nerdwallet.
When can I expect my tax refund?
Most taxpayers who file electronically will get their refunds within 21 days, according to the IRS. However, the IRS cautions that some returns could take longer, including returns that are filed on paper forms, which require more time to process.
The IRS said the best way to check the status of your refund is to visit Where’s My Refund? on IRS.gov or the IRS2Go app.
The IRS updates refund data overnight, and only once per 24-hour period, so the agency said taxpayers don’t need to check more frequently than on a daily basis. For people who file electronically, the “Where’s My Refund” tool should show your status within 24 hours of filing.
If you mail a paper return, the “Where’s My Refund” site requires 4 weeks to show your status, the agency says.
NEW YORK – The man accused of killing three people when drove drunk into a crowd on the Lower East Side on July 4th was arraigned on a host of charges Saturday.
Daniel Hyden of Monmouth Junction, N.J. is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault, manslaughter, assault and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated charges. Hyden was driving with a suspended license, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Hyden, 44, drove a Ford F-150 pickup truck into the crowd at Corlears Hook Park just before 9 p.m. local time. He allegedly ran through a stop sign at the intersection of Water and Cherry Streets, drove up onto the sidewalk, slammed through the chain link fence, and into the crowd.
Eleven people were killed or injured, prosecutors said. The three people killed have been identified as Lucille Pinkney, 59, and her son Herman Pinkney, 38, and Ana Morel, 43. Another person was critically injured, and seven others hospitalized. The youngest victim was 11, according to prosecutors.
Responding police officers say they found Hyden on the ground next to the driver’s-side door, wearing pants but no shirt or shoes. He had bloodshot eyes, was stumbling and there was “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath.”
“I hope we get justice”
Photos provided
On Friday, Family members of the victims returned to the scene, some breaking down in tears.
“I hope we get justice for my brother and my mother,” Diamond Pinkney said. “Herman, I love you. I’m going to do you proud.”
“We’re all devastated with this. It breaks my heart, and I’m so sad about it,” neighbor Nereida Garcia said.
The world’s oldest mummies have been around longer than the mummified pharaohs of Egypt and their ornate tombs — but the ravages of time, human development and climate change are putting these relics at risk.
Chile’s Atacama Desert was once home to the Chincorro people, an ancient population that began mummifying their dead 5,000 years ago, two millennia before the Egyptians did, according to Bernando Arriaza, a professor at the University of Tarapaca.
The arid desert has preserved mummified remains and other clues in the environment that give archaeologists information about how the Chincorro people once lived.
The idea to mummify bodies likely came from watching other remains naturally undergo the process amid the desert’s dry conditions. The mummified bodies were also decorated with reed blankets, clay masks, human hair and more, according to archaeologists.
While UNESCO has designated the region as a World Heritage Site, the declaration may not save all of the relics. Multiple museums, including the Miguel de Azapa Archaeological Museum in the ancient city of Arica, put the Chincorro culture on display. Some mummies and other relics are safely ensconced in those climate-controlled exhibits, but the remains still hidden in the arid desert remain at risk.
“If we have an increase in sea surface temperatures, for example, across the coast of northern Chile, that would increase atmospheric humidity,” said Claudio LaTorre, a paleo-ecologist with the Catholic University of Chile. “And that in turn would generate decomposition, (in) places where you don’t have decomposition today, and you would lose the mummies themselves.”
Other clues that archaeologists can find in the environment may also be lost.
“Human-induced climate change is one aspect that we’re really worried about, because it’ll change a number of different aspects that are forming the desert today,” said LaTorre.
Arriaza is working to raise awareness about the mummies, hoping that that will lead to even more preservation.
“It’s a big, big challenge because you need to have resources,” Arriaza said. “It’s everybody’s effort to a common goal, to preserve the site, to preserve the mummies.”
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