This story is part of Taxes 2023, CNET’s coverage of the best tax software, tax tips and everything else you need to file your return and track your refund.
Tax season officially began Jan. 23, and the IRS is starting out strong: According to data issued by the agency on Friday, some 3.7 million more returns have been processed so far than at this time last year.
As of Feb. 10, the IRS has completed 26.6 million federal income tax returns, a 13.6% increase from the 23.4 million wrapped up by Feb. 11, 2022. (Tax season started a day later last year.)
Read on: How to Track Your IRS Refund
The total number of returns submitted increased by 9.1%, from 26.4 million to 28.8 million, suggesting Americans are getting better about filing their returns early.
The IRS saw its funding beefed up by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which added nearly $80 billion to its budget over the next 10 years.
Some of the money has already gone toward enhancing technology and hiring more IRS customer service representatives, according to the Treasury Department.
That’s helped the IRS with the return backlog and staffing shortages that plagued last year’s tax season.
Here’s how the IRS is doing so far.
For more on taxes, find out about all the tax breaks available to homeowners, and learn about the changes to the child tax credit.
More returns processed
As of Feb. 10, the IRS has processed 26.6 million federal income tax returns, a 13.6% increase from the 23.4 million it got through this time last year.
More refunds issued
The agency has issued 13.3 million refunds, a whopping 48.4% more than the nearly 9 million completed in 2022. (The IRS struggled to pay timely refunds last year.)
To date, refunds total $26.6 billion — or 27.6% more money than last year.
Those stats could shift significantly in a few weeks, with the IRS saying that people who claimed the earned income tax credit or the additional child tax credit may not get their refund until Feb. 28.
Smaller checks
In part due to the expiration of certain enhanced tax credits, the average refund has declined 14% so far, from $2,323 in 2022 to $1,997 in 2023.
On the plus side, the number of direct deposit refunds is up by more than a third, from 9 million last year to 12.2 million this year.
Direct deposit payments are typically received within three weeks, compared with six to eight weeks for paper checks.
Digital drill-down
The IRS says e-filing is the easiest way to ensure your return and any refund are processed promptly. Over 94% of the 28.8 million tax returns submitted so far in 2023 have been filed electronically.
About 39% of those were prepared by tax professionals, the remainder were self-prepared.
Visits to the IRS website have declined 13.4% this season, likely because of all the enhanced credits last year that had taxpayers scrambling for clarification.
Read on: Why Your Tax Refund Could Be Smaller This Year