What Is the Average Tax Refund? Tax Refund Statistics for 2026
The average federal tax refund was $3,276 in the 2026 filing season, based on IRS figures through May 8, 2026.
That is 11.5% more than at the same point in 2025, and the highest average for that point in the season in IRS weekly data going back to 2009.
This page brings together the official numbers on tax refunds: how big they are, who gets them, where they are largest, how many go unclaimed and how often the government keeps part of one.
Every figure comes from the IRS, the Treasury or another government source, and the state and income breakdowns are built from raw IRS Statistics of Income data.
Key Findings
- $3,276 was the average federal refund in the 2026 filing season through May 8, up 11.5% from $2,939 at the same point in 2025.
- 99.1 million refunds worth $324.8 billion had gone out by May 8, 2026, 6.0% more refunds and 18.1% more money than a year earlier.
- $3,806 is what the average early-May refund of 2015 is worth in May 2026 dollars, so even the 2026 record is about 14% smaller after inflation.
- 66.5% of returns claimed a refund for tax year 2023, 106.3 million of them, for an average of $3,286.
- Texas filers got the largest average refund for tax year 2023, $3,784, and Maine filers the smallest, $2,608.
- 21.0 million returns were filed with a refund anticipation check, which pays the tax preparer out of the refund, rising to 23.3% of all returns in Mississippi.
- 1.3 million people had an estimated $1.2 billion in unclaimed refunds for tax year 2022 less than a month before the April 15, 2026, deadline to claim them.
- $3.8 billion in federal tax refunds was taken to pay child support, state taxes, unemployment benefit debts and other federal debts in fiscal year 2026 through September 11.
Table of Contents
What Is the Average Tax Refund in 2026?
Through May 8, 2026, the IRS had issued 99,138,000 refunds totaling $324.8 billion, an average of $3,276.
At the same point in 2025 it had issued 93,569,000 refunds averaging $2,939.
The number of refunds rose 6.0%, the dollars rose 18.1% and the average rose 11.5%.
The 2026 season was the first for tax year 2025 returns, and 2025 was the first year covered by the tax law enacted in July 2025, Public Law 119-21.
That law created new deductions for tips, overtime, car loan interest and taxpayers 65 and older that apply to all of 2025 (IRS guidance).
Workers saw those deductions in their paychecks only if they filed a new Form W-4 during 2025.
Otherwise the savings showed up on the return, as a bigger refund or a smaller balance due.
The average also moves around during the season.
It jumped from $2,476 in the week ending February 13, 2026, to $3,804 a week later, after the IRS began releasing refunds on returns that claim the earned income tax credit or the additional child tax credit, which the law holds until mid-February.
By May 8 it had settled to $3,276, because refunds issued later in the season tend to be smaller.
The Average Refund After Inflation
Adjusted for inflation, the 2026 average is not a record.
The average refund at the same point in 2015 was $2,701, which is worth $3,806 in May 2026 dollars.
By that measure the 2026 average is about 14% smaller than in 2015.
In real terms the early-May average fell from about $3,800 in 2015 through 2017 to between $3,060 and $3,100 in 2023 through 2025, before rebounding in 2026.
View the data
| Filing season | Week ending | Refunds issued | Amount refunded | Average refund | In May 2026 dollars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5/8/2015 | 100,320,000 | $270.99B | $2,701 | $3,806 |
| 2016 | 5/13/2016 | 102,424,000 | $279.86B | $2,732 | $3,811 |
| 2017 | 5/12/2017 | 102,863,000 | $284.86B | $2,769 | $3,792 |
| 2018 | 5/11/2018 | 102,582,000 | $284.93B | $2,778 | $3,700 |
| 2019 | 5/10/2019 | 101,590,000 | $277.26B | $2,729 | $3,571 |
| 2020 | 5/8/2020 | 87,663,000 | $243.66B | $2,779 | $3,632 |
| 2021 | 5/14/2021 | 88,890,000 | $253.83B | $2,856 | $3,555 |
| 2022 | 5/13/2022 | 95,539,000 | $289.73B | $3,033 | $3,477 |
| 2023 | 5/12/2023 | 94,884,000 | $266.85B | $2,812 | $3,099 |
| 2024 | 5/10/2024 | 93,940,000 | $269.49B | $2,869 | $3,061 |
| 2025 | 5/9/2025 | 93,569,000 | $274.98B | $2,939 | $3,064 |
| 2026 | 5/8/2026 | 99,138,000 | $324.76B | $3,276 | $3,276 |
How Many Americans Get a Tax Refund?
About two out of three returns claim one.
For tax year 2023, the latest year the IRS has broken down by state and income, 106,328,020 of 159,949,000 individual returns claimed a refund, or 66.5%.
Those refunds added up to $349.3 billion, an average of $3,286.
Another 43,577,930 returns, 27.2%, were filed with a balance due, which we break down state by state on our tax debt statistics page.
The remaining 6.3% showed neither a refund nor a balance due, a group that includes returns that came out even and returns that applied an overpayment to the next year’s estimated tax.
Nearly all refunds now arrive electronically.
In the 2025 filing season, 93% of individual refunds were paid by direct deposit, and on September 30, 2025, the IRS began phasing out paper refund checks under Executive Order 14247 (IR-2025-94).
Average Tax Refund by State
Texas filers got the largest average refund for tax year 2023, $3,784, followed by Connecticut ($3,694), Louisiana ($3,687) and Florida ($3,663).
Maine filers got the smallest, $2,608, followed by Vermont ($2,691) and Wisconsin ($2,716).
West Virginia had the highest share of returns claiming a refund, 74.1%, and Colorado the lowest, 61.4%.
Mississippi and Louisiana, the two states with the highest share of returns claiming the earned income tax credit, rank second and third for the share of returns getting a refund.
Connecticut’s average refund rose the most from tax year 2022, up 9.9%, and Wyoming’s fell the most, down 7.8%.
What these state figures measure: the refund each filer asked for on returns the IRS processed in 2024, almost all of them for tax year 2023.
They are amounts before any offset for other debts.
The IRS has not yet published state figures for returns filed in 2025 or 2026.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia, tax year 2023. Select a column heading to sort.
| State | Returns with a refund | % with a refund | Average refund | Change vs. 2022 | Total refunded | Refund anticipation checks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 1,488,660 | 69.5% | $3,424 | +2.0% | $5.10B | 19.2% |
| Alaska | 226,830 | 65.2% | $3,307 | +3.2% | $0.75B | 13.1% |
| Arizona | 2,211,040 | 65.2% | $3,265 | +2.7% | $7.22B | 13.3% |
| Arkansas | 904,570 | 70.0% | $3,270 | +1.4% | $2.96B | 18.0% |
| California | 11,425,440 | 61.8% | $3,489 | +4.4% | $39.87B | 9.0% |
| Colorado | 1,894,060 | 61.4% | $3,009 | −4.2% | $5.70B | 11.7% |
| Connecticut | 1,189,520 | 65.3% | $3,694 | +9.9% | $4.39B | 11.3% |
| Delaware | 340,780 | 67.2% | $3,079 | +1.0% | $1.05B | 13.9% |
| District of Columbia | 219,020 | 62.8% | $3,386 | −2.2% | $0.74B | 14.2% |
| Florida | 7,445,650 | 66.4% | $3,663 | −4.9% | $27.27B | 14.5% |
| Georgia | 3,313,550 | 67.9% | $3,582 | +0.2% | $11.87B | 18.9% |
| Hawaii | 440,440 | 63.3% | $3,065 | +1.8% | $1.35B | 11.0% |
| Idaho | 570,570 | 64.5% | $3,056 | +0.5% | $1.74B | 11.8% |
| Illinois | 4,159,520 | 68.2% | $3,338 | −1.7% | $13.88B | 12.2% |
| Indiana | 2,323,310 | 71.7% | $3,053 | +0.8% | $7.09B | 14.8% |
| Iowa | 1,001,020 | 67.5% | $2,950 | +0.9% | $2.95B | 11.6% |
| Kansas | 909,240 | 66.6% | $3,055 | +1.8% | $2.78B | 12.6% |
| Kentucky | 1,417,140 | 71.5% | $2,946 | +0.8% | $4.18B | 15.9% |
| Louisiana | 1,400,170 | 72.5% | $3,687 | +3.1% | $5.16B | 22.0% |
| Maine | 468,750 | 65.8% | $2,608 | −1.8% | $1.22B | 13.1% |
| Maryland | 1,995,500 | 64.4% | $3,234 | −0.3% | $6.45B | 12.2% |
| Massachusetts | 2,293,290 | 63.8% | $3,189 | −4.2% | $7.31B | 9.4% |
| Michigan | 3,335,780 | 68.5% | $3,028 | −0.6% | $10.10B | 13.0% |
| Minnesota | 1,852,040 | 63.8% | $2,808 | −1.1% | $5.20B | 9.2% |
| Mississippi | 896,930 | 72.9% | $3,522 | +0.9% | $3.16B | 23.3% |
| Missouri | 1,955,290 | 68.1% | $2,991 | 0.0% | $5.85B | 13.7% |
| Montana | 346,400 | 62.5% | $2,852 | −0.6% | $0.99B | 12.0% |
| Nebraska | 629,910 | 66.2% | $2,898 | −1.2% | $1.83B | 11.6% |
| Nevada | 1,074,970 | 68.7% | $3,496 | −4.0% | $3.76B | 14.3% |
| New Hampshire | 488,240 | 66.7% | $3,001 | −2.9% | $1.47B | 10.5% |
| New Jersey | 2,986,250 | 64.2% | $3,332 | +0.5% | $9.95B | 9.8% |
| New Mexico | 661,100 | 67.4% | $2,958 | +1.6% | $1.96B | 15.4% |
| New York | 6,372,180 | 65.1% | $3,248 | −2.7% | $20.70B | 10.8% |
| North Carolina | 3,287,000 | 66.8% | $3,085 | +0.3% | $10.14B | 15.6% |
| North Dakota | 241,430 | 65.0% | $3,178 | +3.8% | $0.77B | 12.5% |
| Ohio | 3,986,130 | 70.2% | $2,879 | +0.2% | $11.48B | 14.2% |
| Oklahoma | 1,174,260 | 69.0% | $3,278 | +2.0% | $3.85B | 17.0% |
| Oregon | 1,293,160 | 62.5% | $2,758 | −0.5% | $3.57B | 12.0% |
| Pennsylvania | 4,390,720 | 69.7% | $2,997 | −0.5% | $13.16B | 12.2% |
| Rhode Island | 388,970 | 68.1% | $2,893 | +0.7% | $1.13B | 11.3% |
| South Carolina | 1,632,230 | 65.6% | $3,036 | +0.5% | $4.96B | 16.2% |
| South Dakota | 292,460 | 65.7% | $3,053 | +1.6% | $0.89B | 11.5% |
| Tennessee | 2,268,170 | 69.6% | $3,223 | +1.0% | $7.31B | 15.9% |
| Texas | 9,654,660 | 70.6% | $3,784 | +0.2% | $36.53B | 17.4% |
| Utah | 1,020,310 | 66.1% | $3,169 | −1.3% | $3.23B | 10.6% |
| Vermont | 218,230 | 65.1% | $2,691 | −4.5% | $0.59B | 10.7% |
| Virginia | 2,715,900 | 65.2% | $3,205 | −0.4% | $8.71B | 12.6% |
| Washington | 2,446,430 | 64.7% | $3,286 | −0.7% | $8.04B | 10.7% |
| West Virginia | 576,050 | 74.1% | $2,888 | +1.9% | $1.66B | 17.1% |
| Wisconsin | 1,962,280 | 66.6% | $2,716 | −0.8% | $5.33B | 10.3% |
| Wyoming | 187,140 | 66.3% | $3,429 | −7.8% | $0.64B | 12.9% |
Average Tax Refund by Income
Refunds are most common at lower incomes and least common at the top.
For tax year 2023, 83% of returns with adjusted gross income of $10,000 to $25,000 claimed a refund, compared with 17% of returns with income of $1 million or more.
Filers with income of $10,000 to $50,000 averaged about $2,780, helped by refundable credits such as the earned income tax credit and the additional child tax credit.
The average dipped to $2,470 for incomes of $50,000 to $75,000, then climbed with every step up in income.
The relatively few high-income filers who got refunds got large ones, $137,019 on average for returns with income of $1 million or more, which typically reflects estimated tax payments that turned out to be larger than the tax owed.
View the data
| Adjusted gross income | Returns | With a refund | % with a refund | Average refund | Total refunded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $1 (zero or negative AGI) | 2,324,150 | 828,990 | 35.7% | $5,564 | $4.61B |
| $1 under $10,000 | 15,319,070 | 9,565,540 | 62.4% | $938 | $8.97B |
| $10,000 under $25,000 | 25,373,450 | 21,005,700 | 82.8% | $2,772 | $58.24B |
| $25,000 under $50,000 | 36,030,260 | 28,006,290 | 77.7% | $2,793 | $78.22B |
| $50,000 under $75,000 | 24,178,700 | 17,140,740 | 70.9% | $2,470 | $42.34B |
| $75,000 under $100,000 | 15,696,120 | 9,781,230 | 62.3% | $3,116 | $30.48B |
| $100,000 under $200,000 | 27,532,250 | 15,264,590 | 55.4% | $4,162 | $63.54B |
| $200,000 under $500,000 | 10,930,590 | 4,201,120 | 38.4% | $8,159 | $34.28B |
| $500,000 under $1,000,000 | 1,765,090 | 397,760 | 22.5% | $25,204 | $10.03B |
| $1,000,000 or more | 799,320 | 136,060 | 17.0% | $137,019 | $18.64B |
How Many Filers Use a Refund Anticipation Check?
For tax year 2023, 21,013,290 returns, 13.1% of the total, were filed with a refund anticipation check.
The product sends the refund to a temporary bank account so the tax preparer’s fees can be taken out before the rest reaches the filer.
The IRS notes that its count does not distinguish between refund anticipation loans and refund advances.
Mississippi had the highest rate, 23.3% of returns, followed by Louisiana (22.0%), Alabama (19.2%) and Georgia (18.9%).
California had the lowest, 9.0%.
Use peaks among lower-income filers, at 20.6% of returns with income of $10,000 to $25,000.
The national count barely moved from tax year 2022, when 21,719,180 returns, 13.6%, used one.
How Many Tax Refunds Go Unclaimed?
Under the law, people usually have three years to file a return and claim a refund, and after that the money stays with the Treasury.
In March 2026 the IRS estimated that 1,322,600 people had not claimed refunds for tax year 2022, worth about $1.16 billion, with a median of $686, ahead of the April 15, 2026, deadline.
Those estimates leave out credits the filers may have been owed, such as the earned income tax credit, so the full amount is likely higher.
The unclaimed total has run between $1.0 billion and $1.5 billion in each of the last five IRS estimates.
The next deadline is April 15, 2027, for refunds on tax year 2023 returns.
The IRS also warns that a late refund can be held if returns for later years are missing, and applied to federal or state tax the filer still owes.
If you have several years to catch up on, our guide to unfiled tax returns explains how it works.
View the tax year 2022 estimates by state
| State | People with unclaimed refunds | Median potential refund | Total potential refunds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 22,500 | $674 | $19.5M |
| Alaska | 4,100 | $721 | $3.7M |
| Arizona | 35,700 | $627 | $29.7M |
| Arkansas | 12,600 | $658 | $10.7M |
| California | 143,200 | $680 | $124.7M |
| Colorado | 22,000 | $697 | $19.5M |
| Connecticut | 12,800 | $732 | $11.7M |
| Delaware | 5,100 | $686 | $4.6M |
| District of Columbia | 3,000 | $744 | $2.8M |
| Florida | 89,000 | $638 | $74.5M |
| Georgia | 45,100 | $645 | $38.4M |
| Hawaii | 6,600 | $784 | $6.3M |
| Idaho | 7,200 | $641 | $5.9M |
| Illinois | 47,800 | $714 | $43.0M |
| Indiana | 29,500 | $678 | $25.5M |
| Iowa | 13,700 | $709 | $12.1M |
| Kansas | 12,800 | $694 | $11.2M |
| Kentucky | 17,700 | $669 | $15.1M |
| Louisiana | 19,900 | $694 | $17.6M |
| Maine | 5,100 | $733 | $4.6M |
| Maryland | 25,400 | $739 | $23.7M |
| Massachusetts | 27,300 | $786 | $25.9M |
| Michigan | 41,400 | $707 | $36.9M |
| Minnesota | 19,400 | $711 | $17.1M |
| Mississippi | 11,800 | $635 | $9.9M |
| Missouri | 29,400 | $654 | $24.8M |
| Montana | 4,700 | $661 | $4.0M |
| Nebraska | 6,300 | $703 | $5.5M |
| Nevada | 16,100 | $652 | $13.8M |
| New Hampshire | 5,800 | $745 | $5.3M |
| New Jersey | 33,400 | $746 | $30.8M |
| New Mexico | 7,600 | $700 | $6.8M |
| New York | 67,100 | $757 | $62.4M |
| North Carolina | 46,200 | $638 | $38.3M |
| North Dakota | 3,000 | $774 | $2.8M |
| Ohio | 46,300 | $669 | $39.3M |
| Oklahoma | 19,000 | $672 | $16.4M |
| Oregon | 19,900 | $670 | $17.0M |
| Pennsylvania | 48,400 | $703 | $42.9M |
| Rhode Island | 3,600 | $740 | $3.2M |
| South Carolina | 16,800 | $642 | $14.2M |
| South Dakota | 3,400 | $692 | $2.9M |
| Tennessee | 27,000 | $644 | $22.5M |
| Texas | 126,000 | $687 | $111.7M |
| Utah | 11,000 | $659 | $9.5M |
| Vermont | 2,600 | $719 | $2.2M |
| Virginia | 34,900 | $695 | $31.1M |
| Washington | 37,500 | $738 | $34.7M |
| West Virginia | 5,700 | $756 | $5.2M |
| Wisconsin | 17,600 | $658 | $14.9M |
| Wyoming | 2,600 | $714 | $2.4M |
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Before a refund goes out, the Treasury checks it against debts that federal and state agencies have referred for collection through the Treasury Offset Program.
In fiscal year 2026 through September 11, $3.79 billion in federal tax refunds was offset this way.
Child support was the largest category, $1.37 billion, followed by federal non-tax debts ($1.21 billion), state tax debts ($889 million) and unemployment benefit debts ($320 million).
Offsets for federal non-tax debts have more than doubled since fiscal year 2024, when they totaled $497 million.
Social Security is the biggest reason.
The Social Security Administration went from essentially no tax refund offsets in fiscal years 2022 through 2024 to $56.4 million in fiscal year 2025 and $548.6 million in fiscal year 2026 through September 11, from 246,267 offsets.
Student loan offsets moved the other way: the Department of Education took $347.0 million from refunds in fiscal year 2025 after restarting collections on defaulted loans in May 2025, then announced on January 16, 2026, that it would delay involuntary collections, including Treasury offsets (Department of Education).
Its refund offsets fell to $120.5 million in fiscal year 2026 through September 11.
None of these figures include refunds the IRS applies to back federal taxes, which it does before any of these debts.
View the data
| Fiscal year | Child support | Federal non-tax | State tax | Unemployment | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $2,298.0M | $547.5M | $884.2M | $310.9M | $4.04B |
| 2023 | $1,641.1M | $441.8M | $859.3M | $403.3M | $3.35B |
| 2024 | $1,402.0M | $497.2M | $683.9M | $340.3M | $2.92B |
| 2025 | $1,382.7M | $899.3M | $766.3M | $290.6M | $3.34B |
| 2026 (through Sept. 11) | $1,374.6M | $1,210.3M | $888.6M | $320.4M | $3.79B |
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Methodology and Definitions
Every figure on this page comes from a primary U.S. government source: IRS filing season statistics, IRS Statistics of Income, IRS news releases, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nothing is taken from surveys, private datasets or other statistics roundups.
Where we calculated a figure rather than quoting one, the calculation is described below.
Definitions
- Average refund (filing season). The total amount refunded divided by the number of refunds issued from the start of the filing season through the report date, for current-year returns, as published by the IRS.
- Refund (state and income data). The overpayment the filer asked to have refunded on the return, published as Statistics of Income fields N11902 (returns) and A11902 (amount). It is measured before any offset.
- Balance due at filing. The amount shown as owed on the return when it was filed, fields N11901 and A11901.
- Refund anticipation check. A return filed with a product that routes the refund through a temporary account so preparer fees can be deducted, field RAC. The IRS count does not distinguish between refund anticipation loans and refund advances.
- Unclaimed refund. The IRS’s estimate of refunds owed to people who had not filed a return for the year, excluding credits.
- Tax refund offset. A federal tax refund, or part of one, applied to a debt referred to the Treasury Offset Program. Net amounts subtract reversals.
Calculations
- Inflation adjustment: each year’s early-May average multiplied by the ratio of the May 2026 CPI-U to the CPI-U for May of that year.
- Average refund by state or income: amount refunded divided by returns claiming a refund.
- Share with a refund: returns claiming a refund divided by all individual returns.
- Refund anticipation check rate: returns with a refund anticipation check divided by all individual returns.
Tax Years, Fiscal Years and Rounding
The Statistics of Income state table for tax year 2023 covers returns processed during calendar year 2024, nearly all of them for tax year 2023.
Statistics of Income rounds return counts to the nearest 10.
State totals exclude other areas and Puerto Rico, so they add up to slightly less than the U.S. total.
Filing season figures are cumulative from the start of each filing season.
Treasury Offset Program figures are by federal fiscal year, which runs from October 1 to September 30.
What This Page Does Not Claim
- State averages for the 2026 filing season, because the IRS publishes state data about two years after the tax year ends.
- How many refunds the IRS applies to back federal taxes, because those offsets are not part of the Treasury Offset Program data.
- A count of people who get refunds, because the IRS counts returns, and a joint return covers two people.
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service, Filing season statistics, weekly releases including the week ending May 8, 2026, and the spreadsheet of all filing season statistics from 2009 to the current year. irs.gov.
- Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income, Historic Table 2: Individual Income Tax Returns by State, tax years 2023 and 2022. irs.gov.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted (series CUUR0000SA0), May values, as published on FRED (series CPIAUCNS). fred.stlouisfed.org.
- Internal Revenue Service, unclaimed refund announcements IR-2022-66 (March 25, 2022), IR-2023-79 (April 12, 2023), IR-2024-80 (March 25, 2024), IR-2025-31 (March 11, 2025) and IR-2026-37 (March 20, 2026).
- Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Treasury Offset Program dataset, Fiscal Data, record dates through September 11, 2026. fiscaldata.treasury.gov.
- Internal Revenue Service, IR-2025-94, IRS to phase out paper tax refund checks starting with individual taxpayers (September 23, 2025), and IR-2026-12, IRS opens 2026 filing season (January 26, 2026). irs.gov.
- Internal Revenue Service, How to update withholding to account for tax law changes for 2025. irs.gov.
- U.S. Department of Education, press releases of April 21, 2025 (collections to restart May 5, 2025) and January 16, 2026 (delay of involuntary collections).
How to Cite This Page
Journalists, researchers and educators may republish any chart, table or figure on this page without asking.
Please credit Choice Tax Relief and link to this page so readers can reach the sources and methodology.
Allec, Logan. “What Is the Average Tax Refund? Tax Refund Statistics for 2026.” Choice Tax Relief, updated September 25, 2026. https://choicetaxrelief.com/tax-statistics/tax-refund-statistics/Need a figure cut a different way, the underlying spreadsheet, or a CPA to interview?
Email Logan Allec, CPA at [email protected].
We update this page each spring, after the IRS’s filing season reports, and each fall, when Statistics of Income publishes the next tax year of state data.
For the other side of the ledger, see our tax debt statistics.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tax Refunds
What is the average tax refund in 2026?
The average federal tax refund was $3,276 in the 2026 filing season through May 8, 2026, according to the IRS. That is 11.5% higher than the $2,939 average at the same point in 2025.
How many people get a tax refund?
About two out of three returns claim a refund. For tax year 2023, 106.3 million of the 159.9 million individual returns filed, 66.5%, claimed one.
Which state gets the biggest tax refunds?
Texas filers had the largest average refund for tax year 2023, $3,784, according to IRS Statistics of Income data. Maine filers had the smallest, $2,608.
Are tax refunds bigger than they used to be?
In dollars, yes. The 2026 average was the highest for that point in the filing season in IRS data going back to 2009. After inflation, no. The early-May average of $2,701 in 2015 is worth about $3,806 in May 2026 dollars.
How much in tax refunds goes unclaimed?
The IRS estimated in March 2026 that 1.3 million people had about $1.2 billion in unclaimed refunds for tax year 2022. People usually have three years to file and claim a refund, and the deadline for tax year 2023 refunds is April 15, 2027.
Can the government take my tax refund?
Yes. The IRS applies refunds to back federal taxes first, and the Treasury Offset Program can take refunds for past-due child support, state taxes, unemployment benefit debts and other federal debts. Offsets through that program totaled $3.79 billion in fiscal year 2026 through September 11.
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Logan Allec, CPA, Founder and Owner
Logan Allec has been serving taxpayers as a CPA for over 14 years. After leaving his role at a "Big 4" firm, he started Choice Tax Relief to help everyday Americans who have found themselves behind on their taxes. He also educates thousands of people daily about tax relief on his YouTube channel. In addition to his CPA license, Logan also has a Master's Degree in Taxation from the University of Southern California (USC). He lives with his wife and children in the Los Angeles area. Learn more about Logan here.
