Americans may be checking their mailboxes a little more frequently these days.
Now that the main tax-filing deadline has passed, the IRS says it has issued 97 million tax refunds, worth an average of $2,763, up about $50 from last year. The cumulative value of refunds on 2016 taxes is $268.3 billion.
Related: The Best and Worst States for Taxes in 2017
The IRS says that it has received 135.6 million returns this year, following 17 million returns sent in just last week. The IRS says that most refunds are sent out within three weeks of receiving a return.
Not everyone was able to send in their returns on time. Taxpayers filed 11.6 million extension forms, a slight increase over the number filed last year.
If lawmakers are unable to avoid a government shutdown at the end of this week, taxpayers may have to wait longer for their returns, since IRS workers who process returns could be furloughed. A two-week shutdown could result in $8 billion in individual income tax refunds being delayed, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress.
Nearly half of Americans (48 percent) told the National Retail Federation that they planned to put their tax refund into a savings account this year, and more than a third planned to use it to pay down debt.
If you haven’t received your return, check out the Where’s My Refund tool, which will give you the status of your refund within 24 hours of receiving an e-filed return or four weeks after receiving a paper return.
