Americans are receiving larger tax refunds on average in the 2026 filing season than last year, though taxpayers are filing at a slower pace in the first few weeks than they were a year ago.

The latest IRS tax filing data was released by the agency on Friday and showed that as of Feb. 6, the average tax refund amount paid to taxpayers was $2,290.

That represents an increase of 10.9% when compared with the average size of refunds paid at the same stage of the 2025 tax filing season, when the average refund amount was $2,065.

Over 7.4 million refunds have been issued as of Feb. 6, down 8.1% from the same time last year when nearly 8.1 million were disbursed to taxpayers.

HERE’S WHEN TAXPAYERS WILL GET THEIR REFUNDS

Average tax refunds paid to Americans are up over 10% so far this filing season, the IRS reported. (Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images)

While the number of refunds has declined, the total amount refunded has risen 1.9% from nearly $16.7 billion to almost $17 billion, which helped boost the size of the average refund.

IRS data also showed that the average direct deposit refund rose by a similar amount when compared with this point of last year’s tax filing season, as the average direct deposit refund for the current year is $2,388 – up 10.3% from $2,165 at this time a year ago.

While refunds are rising thus far in the 2026 filing season when compared with a year ago, the number of tax returns received and processed has declined relative to last year.

TAX FILING SEASON IS OFFICIALLY HERE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The IRS reported Americans are filing tax returns at a slower pace so far this filing season. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)

The IRS reported that it has received nearly 22.4 million returns as of Feb. 6, a decrease of 5.2% from last year when almost 23.6 million returns were received at the same stage of the filing season.

The IRS offers an online “Where’s my refund?” tool for taxpayers to check on the status of their tax refund.

The IRS website said that processing a tax refund generally takes up to 21 days for e-filed returns, whereas returns sent by mail can take six weeks or more to reach the taxpayer. Refunds may also take longer if the return is in need of corrections or additional review.

BESSENT EXPECTS TAXPAYERS WILL SEE ‘VERY LARGE’ TAX REFUNDS EARLY NEXT YEAR

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said taxpayers will receive large refunds this filing season. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Taxpayers who are preparing to file their returns should consider setting up direct deposit with the IRS if they wish to receive their refund sooner.

Taxpayers who e-file their returns can typically see their refund status within 24 hours using the “Where’s my refund?” tool, which can provide refund information for not only the current year but also the past two years.

If a taxpayer needs to amend their return after filing, it can take longer to receive their tax return. Amended returns can take up to three weeks to appear in the IRS’ system and up to 16 weeks to process.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

The IRS also offers a “Where’s my amended return?” tool for taxpayers who submitted an amended return and want to track the status of their filing and any related refund.

Louis Schmid
Head of Investor Relations

Good afternoon, and welcome to Swisscom’s Full Year Results Presentation 2025. My name is Louis Schmid, Head of Investor Relations. And with me are our CEO, Christoph Aeschlimann; our CFO, Eugen Stermetz; and Walter Renna, CEO of Fastweb + Vodafone.

Let us now start the meeting with the agenda for today on Page 2. As you can see, Christoph presents the first 3 chapters: achievements, where he dives into some of last year’s highlights commercially, operationally and financially; strategy update, where he presents Swisscom’s framework, lead, innovate, perform to grow free cash flow; and the review of our business in Switzerland, covering achievements 2025 and our focus 2026.

Then Walter Renna, CEO of Fastweb + Vodafone, reviews our business in Italy. He will talk about the integration of Vodafone Italia and the industrial performance of our Italian business and its plans going forward. After Walter’s part, Eugen Stermetz, our CFO, will present the financial result 2025, including the guidance 2026. And in the wrap-up chapter, some final remarks from our CEO, Christoph Aeschlimann. After the presentation, we will move directly to the Q&A session.

With that, I would like to open the meeting and hand over to Christoph for his part.

Christoph Aeschlimann
CEO & Head of Swisscom – Switzerland

Thank you, Louis. Welcome to our 2025

Hiromi Oshima
General Manager of Finance & Accounting Division and In Charge of Group Finance & Accounting

I am Hiromi Oshima, Executive Officer in charge of Group Finance and Accounting at IHI. We will now present an overview of our financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. The upper section shows the highlights for the third quarter fiscal year 2025.

Orders achieved JPY 1,364.8 billion, a record high for Q3, driven by expanding demand in the nuclear energy and other areas. Revenue decreased from the previous fiscal year to JPY 1,129.3 billion due to rebounding from the progress of large projects in the previous year and the impact of business divestitures, including material handling system. Operating profit was JPY 102.5 billion, remained at the same level as the previous year. Although revenue declined, we maintained the same level of profit as the previous fiscal year, which had achieved a record high. In addition, due to improvements in equity method investment income, including from Japan Marine United and others, profit attributable to owners of parent for the third quarter reached a record high.

The lower section shows forecast of fiscal year 2025. As demand continues to expand in the nuclear energy and other businesses in Energy business, we are revising our order forecast upward by JPY 90 billion. This fiscal year is the final year of our medium-term management plan. As I will explain later, while accelerating structural reforms, we expect to achieve record highs in orders, revenue, operating profit and profit attributable to owners of parent. We will firmly complete the structural reforms this year to prepare for the next fiscal year

Tania Archibald
MD, CEO & Director

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I’m Tania Archibald, BlueScope’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. And with me today is David Fallu, our Chief Financial Officer. Together, we’ll take you through our results materials before we take your questions.

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the various lands on which we meet and work today and pay my respects to elders past and present. Before I go any further, I need to address the most important issue for our company. In November, a young contractor, Jack McGrath, tragically lost his life whilst working on the #6 blast furnace reline project at Port Kembla. The impact has been profound. A family lost someone they loved and the BlueScope community lost a colleague. I want to acknowledge how deeply this has affected everyone, our employees, our contractor partners and the local community.

The Safe Work New South Wales investigation into the incident is continuing, and we’re cooperating fully. I won’t comment further on the specifics. But what I will say is this, nothing matters more than the safety of

Discount retailer Dollar Tree is opening new stores in increasingly affluent areas as it seeks to attract higher-income customers who spend more at the store per trip, a new report finds.

An analysis by Bloomberg News found that 49% of new Dollar Tree stores opened in the last six years were located in wealthier parts of metro areas around the country, up from just 41% in the preceding six years.

The share of new stores in ZIP codes with significantly higher incomes compared to the broader metro area rose to 19% in the last six years, up from 16% in the prior six years. At the other end of the spectrum, the share opened in ZIP codes with significantly lower incomes declined to 14% from 20% in the comparable periods, Bloomberg found.

Dollar stores have historically seen an uptick in business during economic downturns as more consumers look to economize, but with higher-income households driving much of consumer spending, the shift comes as a way of attracting those shoppers more frequently.

WHY SHOPPERS MAKING SIX FIGURES ARE GIVING DOLLAR TREE A BOOST

Dollar Tree is opening a rising share of new stores in more affluent areas. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Dollar Tree says that in the last quarter, 60% of new Dollar Tree customers made at least six figures. About 30% were middle-income households earning between $60,000 and $100,000, while the rest were lower-income households earning under $60,000.

While these higher-income customers visit Dollar Tree less than their lower-income peers, the company said that they spend an extra $1 on average per visit and if they were to make one additional visit per year, it would boost annual sales by $1 billion.

INFLATION EASED SLIGHTLY IN JANUARY BUT REMAINED WELL ABOVE THE FED’S TARGET

Dollar Tree CEO Michael Creedon said late last year that the retailer serves “an increasingly broad spectrum of shoppers, from core value-focused households to middle- and higher-income shoppers who are making deliberate choices about how and where they spend.”

He added that the data “demonstrates that Dollar Tree isn’t just for tough times or for those with limited resources.”

DOLLAR GENERAL SEES INCREASE IN HIGHER-INCOME SHOPPERS LOOKING TO STRETCH THEIR DOLLARS

Dollar Tree is looking to attract more higher-income customers. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“While the average per household spend for our higher income customers is currently lower, even given their higher income, larger average basket size and ability to spend more, this is a simple function of trip frequency,” Creedon said.

He added that “because many of our higher income customers are still early in their relationship with Dollar Tree, their purchase frequency has significant room to grow.” 

Consumers’ shopping preferences have also contributed to the pivot, as more households trade down to offset higher expenses due to inflation.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

The elevated cost of essentials like groceries and household items has forced even more of them to trade down to stores known for their heavy discounting or everyday low-price models, such as Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Walmart and Aldi.

Tax filing season is underway and scammers are looking to take advantage of unsuspecting taxpayers through a variety of ever-evolving scams seeking money and personal information.

The International Association of Better Business Bureaus warns that tax scams typically originate with a phone call and tend to fall into two categories. 

In one, the supposed IRS agent tells the would-be victim that they owe back taxes and attempts to pressure them into paying with a prepaid debit card or wire transfer, threatening an arrest and fines for noncompliance.

The other popular tax scam tactic involves the scammer claiming they’re issuing tax refunds and asking for personal information to send the would-be victim their refund. That information may later be used for identity theft, and in the case of college students, they may be targeted with a claim that their “federal student tax” hasn’t been paid.

TAX FILING SEASON IS OFFICIALLY HERE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Better Business Bureau warns taxpayers to be cautious with when contacted by someone claiming to be from the IRS. (iStock)

The BBB report notes that tax scammers may engage in a number of tactics to try to appear legitimate. They may give a fake badge number or name, and the caller ID may indicate that the call is coming from Washington, D.C., or use a serious “robocall” recording that sounds official.

Scammers may also send a follow-up email that uses IRS logos and colors along with language that makes the email appear legitimate.

When con artists attempt to target victims, they may try to push the would-be victim into taking action immediately before they have a chance to ask questions or otherwise process the information the scammer is throwing at them. 

HERE’S WHEN TAXPAYERS WILL GET THEIR REFUNDS

The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by phone or email, and won’t demand immediate action as taxpayers may appeal its decisions. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

They may also demand payment through methods like wire transfers, prepaid debit cards, or other non-traditional methods because those are harder to reverse or trace. The real IRS will never demand immediate payment, require a specific form of payment, or ask for a credit or debit card number of the phone.

The BBB notes that the IRS will allow taxpayers to ask questions or appeal any amount of back taxes they owe.

Additionally, the IRS always initiates contact by mail – not by phone calls, texts, emails or social media – so taxpayers aware of that can be better prepared to parry a scammer’s attempts via phone or email. After the IRS sends a mailed letter to a taxpayer with outstanding debts, they may reach out by phone.

DATA BREACH EXPOSES PERSONAL DATA OF 25M AMERICANS

Tax scammers may use a variety of methods to target taxpayers. (iStock)

The IRS has also warned taxpayers about a mailing scam that attempts to trick victims into thinking they have a tax refund. 

Taxpayers receive a cardboard envelope with a fake letter that purports to be from the IRS regarding an unclaimed refund, which requests the taxpayer provide personal and financial information.

BBB recommends that taxpayers in doubt about whether phone calls or other outreach are legitimately from the IRS should contact the agency directly to tell them about the claims and request, which should allow them to confirm whether it was actually the IRS reaching out.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

It also suggests filing taxes as early as possible to avoid the threat of identity theft, as a scammer could attempt to use your information to file a fake return.

A generation of young people locked out of homeownership has found another way to build wealth: putting money into the stock market.

The share of people 25 to 39 years old making annual transfers to investment accounts more than tripled between 2013 and 2023 to 14.4%, outpacing increases for those 40 and over, according to data from the JPMorgan Chase Institute. The share of 26-year-olds who transferred funds to investment accounts since turning 22 shot up from 8% in 2015 to 40% as of May 2025. The numbers don’t include people investing in 401(k)s.

“We’ve seen really strong, surprisingly strong growth in retail investing in recent years among people who may otherwise be first-time home buyers,” said George Eckerd, the research director for wealth and markets at the institute.

The age range includes young millennials and there is overlap in the numbers between investors and homeowners, but Eckerd was struck by the rise in young and lower-income investors at the same time that home buying activity has fallen. That, he said, has tilted the balance of wealth accumulation toward financial markets for young people.