still, better than 21 million in 2022 pandemic.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
| 2025 filing season by the numbers | |
|---|---|
| individual returns received | 140.6 million |
| refunds issued | 86.1 million |
| total refund dollars | $253 billion |
| average refund | $2,942 |
issuing $49 billion more in refunds than last year, the internal revenue service processed over $253 billion in refunds during the 2025 filing season, with 86.1 million refunds issued and an average check of $2,942, according to the national taxpayer advocate’s 2026 objectives report to congress.
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in 2022, the irs faced a substantial backlog, with over 21 million delayed refunds, primarily due to pandemic-related challenges and a surge in paper filings. by 2023, improvements in processing systems and staffing helped reduce the backlog to approximately 1.9 million delayed refunds. however, in 2025, delayed refunds rose again to over 5 million, slowed by headline-making staff cuts and an uptick in identity theft cases requiring additional verification.
the irs received 140.6 million individual income tax returns, up slightly from the previous year. more than 91 percent of those returns were filed electronically.
however, paper-filed returns continued to slow down the process, contributing to backlogs and delayed refunds for some taxpayers.
as of april 18, 2025, the irs suspended approximately 3.4 million individual tax returns for various reasons, including error resolution, potential identity theft, processing rejects, and unpostable returns. these suspended returns have not yet been processed and are pending further review, which can delay associated refunds.
additionally, the irs flagged about 2.1 million returns for potential identity theft, requiring taxpayers to authenticate their identities before refunds could be issued. this authentication process can further delay refund issuance for affected taxpayers.
refund processing speed varied widely. electronically filed returns with direct deposit were typically processed within 21 days. in contrast, paper returns often took months, especially if flagged for manual review. taxpayers subject to identity verification procedures or issues involving credits, such as the eitc, faced even longer waits.
national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins cautioned that averages conceal the hardship faced by many taxpayers whose refunds are delayed. her office is pushing for end-to-end digitization of all returns and full transparency into refund status tracking.
collins urged the irs to expand real-time data tools for practitioners and improve flagging mechanisms so fewer legitimate returns are incorrectly held up. until then, the tax refund machine remains efficient for some, but clunky and unpredictable for too many others.