It's Tax Day. Here's how big the average tax refund is in 2026.

MoneyWatch It's Tax Day. Here's how big the average tax refund is in 2026. .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-moneywatch.jpg'); } By Mary Cunningham Mary Cunningham Reporter, MoneyWatch Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. She previously worked at "60 Minutes," CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program. Read Full Bio Mary Cunningham April 15, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google As another Tax Day arrives, the average refund this year is $3,462, up 11%, or around $350, from 2025, according to IRS data. "Aggregate refunds are up, average refunds are up, and clearly millions, if not tens of millions, of taxpayers are claiming one of the new deductions" under the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" enacted last year, Andrew Lautz, director of tax policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, told CBS News. Deductions reduce a person's taxable income, which typically means they end up owing less to the IRS.Lautz said the think tank is seeing many people take advantage of changes eliminating federal income taxes on tips and overtime. According to a March survey of 1,200 taxpayers by the Bipartisan Policy Center, about a third of respondents said they received tipped income, overtime pay or both.How many people get refundsLast year, 104 million taxpayers, or 63% of filers, received refunds, according to the IRS. So far this year, nearly 70 million filers have received tax returns, agency data shows. Refunds will continue going out after Tax Day, but Lautz said he expects the average refund size to remain relatively steady.Investment bank Piper Sandler earlier this year projected that tax refunds would increase by as much as $1,000 in 2026.Don Schneider, deputy head of U.S. policy at Piper Sandler, called that larger amount a "hypothetical maximum" that assumes all filers get a refund. The $106 billion in retroactive...