Just a fortnight ago, on January 29, 2024, the IRS commenced the tax season for the year. Already, taxpayers are seeing returns from the agency. Typically, if individuals file electronically and opt for direct deposit, they can anticipate receiving their refunds within 21 days, according to the IRS. Remarkably, by February 2, a mere five days into the filing season, the IRS had issued 2.6 million refunds.
To put this into perspective, by February 3, 2023, the IRS had disbursed over 7.9 million refunds. It’s worth noting that last year’s tax season kicked off six days earlier, on January 23, 2023, granting the IRS nearly an additional week to process returns and issue refunds. Here’s the latest update on the IRS’s performance this year. For further insights into taxes, explore our indispensable 2024 tax filing cheat sheet along with recommendations for the top tax software for 2024.
How Many Tax Returns Has the IRS Processed in 2024 Thus Far?
As of February 2, the IRS reported processing 13.9 million federal income tax returns, marking a 16.9% decrease from the 16.7 million processed by the same time last year. Notably, with the tax season commencing earlier in 2023 (January 23, 2023, compared to January 29, 2024), taxpayers had six additional days last year to submit their returns.
By February 2, the IRS had received a total of 15.3 million returns, indicating a 19.1% decline from the 18.8 million received by February 3, 2023. Among the 15.3 million returns received thus far, nearly all, except 409,000, were filed electronically. These comprised 4.8 million from tax preparers and an additional 10 million from self-preparers, according to the IRS.
How Do the Tax Refunds for 2024 Compare to Those of 2023 at This Stage?
By February 2, the IRS had distributed 2.6 million refunds, marking a 67.3% decrease from the 7.9 million refunds issued by February 3, 2023. During the initial week of the current tax year, the IRS refunded $3.6 billion, marking a decrease of 76.8% from the $15.6 billion refunded by the same date last year. It’s noteworthy to mention that the 2023 tax season commenced six days earlier, on January 23.
The average refund amount has declined by 28.9%, from $1,963 during the 2023 tax season through February 3, to $1,395 for the current season thus far. Among the recipients of refunds, 2.6 million opted for direct deposit, with their refunds averaging $1,543. In contrast, during the corresponding period last year, 6.9 million direct deposit recipients had already received their refunds, which averaged $2,056.