March 13, 2026
Americans are getting bigger tax refunds this year. That’s according to the new totals released by the IRS.
Now I know a lot of you have told me in my comments that you are seeing a smaller tax refunds or you’ve had to pay in this year – but according to the IRS — as of March 6th the average direct deposit tax refund in 2026 is $3668. That’s $289 more than the tax refund average in 2025. The Treasury department says that increase in tax refunds is a result of the big beautiful bill. The Treasury department said 3.5 million taxpayers claimed no tax on tips, more than 15.5 million tax payers have claimed no tax on overtime, and 690,000 taxpayers have claimed no tax on car loan interest.
So again with all those new tax advantages and the extension of the Trump tax cuts — the average refund increased by just $289. We’ll have to see what that number looks like at the end of tax season.
The latest report also found that so far this tax season – the IRS has received 710,000 fewer tax returns from tax payers than it did at this point last year. And as of March 6 the IRS has processed 834,000 fewer returns than they did last year. So – they’ve received fewer tax returns and are moving slower in processing the ones they have received.
The treasury department also reported that almost 3.5 million Trump accounts were opened for kids in this country with the vast majority of them qualifying for the $1000 seed money the US government is going to kick in.
As a side note any parent can open one of these tax advantaged investment accounts for their US citizen children under the age of 18. But to qualify for that extra $1000 from the US government – the IRS just put out some new guidance that says your child must be born in the calendar year 2025, 2026, 2027 or 2028, must be a US citizen and must have a social security number. To sign up for these accounts, the parent must anticipate that they will claim the child as a dependent in that calendar year and will fill out this new 45-47 tax form. President Trump is of course the 45th and 47th president.
Read more from the IRS about the numbers here.
Read more about new Big Beautiful Bill elections here.
Read more about the Trump account rules here.
Read more about 4547 form here.
