IRS Speeds Out $3.6 Billion in 2024 Tax Refunds Within First Week

As of February 2, 2024, just two weeks into the current tax season that started on January 29th, taxpayers are already receiving their tax refunds promptly from the IRS. 

Usually, when filing electronically and choosing direct deposit, taxpayers can expect to receive their refunds within approximately 21 days. 

During the first five days of the tax filing season, the IRS had already issued 2.6 million refunds. By February 3, 2023, the IRS had already distributed over 7.9 million refunds for the previous tax season. 

This tax season started on January 23, 2023, giving the IRS an extra week to process returns and issue refunds.

Current Status of 2024 Tax Returns- IRS

Based on recent data from the IRS, the number of processed federal income tax returns has decreased by 16.9% compared to the same period last year. 

As of Feb. 2, a total of 13.9 million returns have been processed. Due to the earlier start of tax season in 2023, tax filers had an additional six days to submit their tax returns compared to the previous year.

By February 2nd, the IRS had received 15.3 million returns, which is a 19.1% decrease compared to the 18.8 million returns received by February 3rd, 2023.

In response to the IRS, out of the 15.3 million returns received, only 409,000 were filed through non-electronic means. 

Tax preparers accounted for 4.8 million of the electronically filed returns, while self-preparers contributed another 10 million.

Number of Tax Refunds Issued

As of Feb. 2, the IRS has issued 2.6 million refunds, which is a significant decrease of 67.3% compared to the 7.9 million refunds sent out by Feb. 3, 2023. 

In the initial week of this tax year, the IRS issued refunds totaling $3.6 billion, which is a significant decrease of 76.8% compared to the $15.6 billion disbursed by the same time last year. 

However, as stated earlier, the 2023 tax season started six days earlier, on Jan. 23.