NEW YORK—Expecting a tax refund? It could be smaller than last year. And with inflation still high, that money won’t go as far as it did a year ago.
The more than 100 million taxpayers who have had their returns processed as of April 7 got refunds that were an average of 9.3 percent less than last year, in part due to pandemic relief programs expiring. The filing deadline for most taxpayers is Tuesday, though it has been extended for parts of California, Alabama, Georgia, New York, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Indiana that were hard hit by severe weather.
The average refund is $2,878, down from $3,175, a difference of nearly $300, according to the most recent IRS data available….