With less than a week to go before the April 15th deadline, most taxpayers can breathe easy. About two-thirds have already filed their returns. And 68% of those got refunds. The average refund so far in 2024 is $3050 — 4.8% bigger than last year. Here are five things to know about this year’s tax filing season.
Procrastination rate holds steady
This year’s filing season began a week later than last year’s. But as of March 29, the total number of returns filed with the IRS was roughly even with last year. The agency had received more than 90 million tax returns by the end of last month. The vast majority of people (96.7%) filed electronically — which the IRS prefers and which greatly speeds processing. Of those electronic returns, 53% were completed by tax professionals while 47% were done by do-it-yourselfers. The IRS expects to receive about 50 million more returns during the final two weeks of the filing season. (Because of state holidays, taxpayers in Massachusetts and Maine have until April 17th to file this year.)
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