IRS

Tax Refund Totals Up 10%

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Tax pros hold 44 percent of the market, one-half percentage point less than a year ago.

By Beth Bellor

For the first time this busy season, the IRS is reporting not just refund numbers and average amounts but also the total amounts refunded. It’s good news: up 10 percent for both total and direct deposit refunds.

MORE: Tax Refunds Plummet, but No Worries | Tax Refunds Up 18% Early On | First Tax Filing Reports Are In
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As of Feb. 21, the most recent data available, the agency had received 42.7 million individual income tax returns, down 4.2 percent from the same period in 2024. It had processed 42.4 million returns, down 3.8 percent.
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Tax Refunds Plummet, but No Worries

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data table
* Total tax returns processed includes returns received in the prior or current year and processed in 2025. # Total refunds issued represents refunds for returns received and processed in 2025, which reflects current year returns only. However, the number of direct deposit refunds represents refunds for both current and prior year returns processed in 2025, which makes this figure larger than the “total number of refunds” listed for the current year.

 

Tax pros handling 41% of e-filings.

By Beth Bellor

Refunds, the one bright spot of the 2025 tax season so far, have dropped, and not just a little – 31 percent and more.

MORE: Tax Refunds Up 18% Early On | First Tax Filing Reports Are In
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Of course the IRS has an explanation. It’s a plausible one and, as usual, tied to timing.

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Tax Refunds Up 18% Early On

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data chart

Most other tallies are down by around 7 percent.

By Beth Bellor

Once again, refunds are up and everything else is down in the world of individual income tax returns.

MORE: First Tax Filing Reports Are In
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At the close of the second week of tax season, the IRS had received 23.6 million returns, down 7.7 percent from the same week in 2024. It had processed 23.5 million returns, down 7.6 percent, which includes returns received in 2024 or 2025 and processed this year.
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First Tax Filing Reports Are In

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data table
* Total tax returns processed includes returns received in the prior or current year and processed in 2025. # Total refunds issued represents refunds for returns received and processed in 2025, which reflects current year returns only. However, the number of direct deposit refunds represents refunds for both current and prior year returns processed in 2025, which makes this figure larger than the “total number of refunds” listed for the current year.

 

Refunds are up; everything else is down.

By Beth Bellor

The first week of tax season is over! Cue the applause!

Some of you seem less than excited. We know it’s early. All too early.

MORE: Steve Yoss: Unlocking Business Insight with Power BIs | Quick Tax Tip | More Than 1 Million ERC Claims Still Not Processed | Art Werner: The Godfather and Tax Issues | Quick Tax Tip | Advanced Tax Preparers Need Managing, Too | The Top Ten Problems the IRS Still Needs to Fix | Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season | IRS Processing Up; Payouts Down | Help Tax Clients Help You | Four Challenges of Managing New Tax Preparers
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Still, it’s time to begin our weekly tally of how things are going, starting with 13.2 million individual income tax returns received as of Jan. 31, down 14 percent from the same period in 2024. The total returns processed was 11.7 million, down 15.8 percent.
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IRS Processing Up; Payouts Down

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data table

Figures for 2024 topped those of 2023 until it came to refunds.

By Beth Bellor

As the 2025 busy season kicks off and we wait for the first individual income tax return reports to trickle in, let’s take a peek at how the last drips of 2024 compared to the dregs of 2023.

MORE: Tax Pros are Making Changes for a Better Busy Season | IRS Funding Pays Eye-Popping 415x ROI | Tax Season 2025 Begins. Ready or Not. | Every Tax Reviewer Should Be Able to Answer These Ten Questions | Art Werner: Corporate Transparency Act and FinCEN Reporting | Taxpayer Advocate Sees Big Improvements at IRS | Ask Tax Clients the Right Questions | Major Changes to Circular 230: Implications for Tax Professionals | Cornerstone Report | Art Werner: Due Diligence and IRS Enforcement | Make ‘Done But’ Tax Returns a Thing of the Past | Six Methods for Getting Paid Faster This Tax Season | Use Humor to Get Tax Documents in Early
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By the end of 2024, the Internal Revenue Service had received 163.5 million returns, up 0.9 percent from the end of 2023. It had processed 163.5 million returns, up 0.3 percent, which included returns received in the prior or current year and processed in the calendar year.
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