A sign outside the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
The Internal Revenue Service is taking longer to process tax refunds than it did a year ago, but the average size of refund checks that have already been issued to taxpayers is up by nearly 11 percent from those received through the same period in 2025.
Early individual taxpayer refunds are moving sluggishly because of the PATH Act, which required the IRS to hold tax returns from filers who claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) until Feb. 15, the federal tax agency said in a statement on Feb. 13.
