DIpil Das
Each year, tax refunds return billions of dollars to the US consumer economy. The IRS reports tax return filings and refunds on a weekly basis until the extended deadline of May 17, 2021. Our US Tax Tracker reports provide coverage of tax return filings at four-week intervals. In this report, we look at what has happened in 2021 tax filing season so far.
As of April 16, 2021:
Figure 1. 2021 Filing Season: Cumulative Statistics Comparing Week Ending 4/16/2021 (Day 64 of the 2021 Filing Season) to Week Ending 4/17/2020 (Day 82 of the 2020 Filing Season)* [wpdatatable id=893]
*The IRS delayed the start of its filing season this year Source: IRS The graph below shows the total annual refunds disbursed, which increased at a 0.2% CAGR from 2016 to 2020.
Figure 2. Total US Annual Tax Refunds (USD Bil.) [caption id="attachment_126516" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
Source: IRS[/caption]
- The IRS had issued 73.3 million refunds, totaling $210.7 billion. The number of refunds issued was down 9.9% year over year. The total amount refunded was down 8.1% year over year.
- The average refund amounted to $2,873—up 2.0% year over year.
- The average direct deposit refund was $2,939—down 0.8% year over year.
- The IRS had received 111 million tax returns (down 4.3% year over year) and processed 100 million (down 6.2%).
- Of the returns filed, 94.4% were filed electronically. Of those, 52.9% were prepared by tax professionals and the remaining 47.1% were self-prepared.
- Taxpayers using the IRS website to access information increased sharply: The site logged 1.2 billion visits, up 58.3% year over year.
Figure 1. 2021 Filing Season: Cumulative Statistics Comparing Week Ending 4/16/2021 (Day 64 of the 2021 Filing Season) to Week Ending 4/17/2020 (Day 82 of the 2020 Filing Season)* [wpdatatable id=893]
*The IRS delayed the start of its filing season this year Source: IRS The graph below shows the total annual refunds disbursed, which increased at a 0.2% CAGR from 2016 to 2020.
Figure 2. Total US Annual Tax Refunds (USD Bil.) [caption id="attachment_126516" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
Source: IRS[/caption]