By Kristin F. Dalton, Staten Island Advance, NY (TNS)

The IRS has been processing refunds faster this tax season than last year, but the average refund Americans are receiving is slightly lower, the federal agency recently announced.

As of Feb. 3, the IRS said it has processed more than 16.7 million tax returns—29% more than in 2022, nearly four million more.

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Not only has the IRS processed more returns this year, it also received more.

By Feb 4. 2022, the IRS received 16,685,000 returns; it received 18,946,000 as of Feb. 3 this year, an increase of 13.5%, the IRS said.

The refund amount Americans are receiving dropped by 10.8% compared to last year. The average refund in 2023 has been $1,963 compared to $2,201, the IRS said.

While the individual return amount is lower so far more money has been refunded—$15.696 billion in 2023 compared to $9.5333 billion as of Feb. 3.

More Americans are self-preparing their taxes this year compared to last year, the agency said,

The IRS said it was taking additional steps for the 2023 tax season to improve service for taxpayers after the three previous tax seasons were drastically impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As part of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS hired more than 5,000 new telephone assist staffers and added more in-person staff.

The 2023 tax season kicked off Monday, Jan. 23 and more than 168 million individual tax returns were expected to be filed before the Tuesday, April 18 filing deadline. People have three extra days to file this year because of federal holidays; the due date is April 18 instead of April 15 because of the weekend and the Emancipation Day holiday in the District of Columbia, which falls on Monday, April 17.

Taxpayers requesting an extension will have until Monday, Oct. 16 to file.

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