Tax filers angry as IRS issues fewer, smaller refunds

The average payment is down 8% from 2018 due to GOP overhaul.

Millions of Americans filling out their 2018 tax returns will probably be surprised to learn that their refund will be less than expected or that they owe money to the Internal Revenue Service after years of receiving refunds.

People have taken to social media, using the hashtag #GOPTaxScam, to vent their anger. Many are blaming President Trump and Republicans for their shrinking refund. Some on Twitter have even said they voted for Trump but won’t do so again after seeing their refund slashed.

The uproar comes after Trump and congressional Republicans passed a major overhaul of the tax code in December 2017, the biggest legislative achievement of the president’s first year.

Although the vast majority of Americans did get a tax cut in 2018, refunds are a different matter. Some refunds have decreased because of the changes in the tax code made by the law, such as a new limit on property and local income tax deductions, and some have decreased because of how the IRS has altered withholding in paychecks.

“I am really frustrated with my refund this year. I was expecting a good chunk of change. I was going to put it toward buying a car,” said Sal Ramirez, a 20-year-old packaging designer in the San Gabriel Valley. He earns $45,000 and said he received a refund last year of more than $1,200 because he puts zero withholding allowances on his W-4 form at work.

Ramirez just got his refund from the IRS and it’s only $900 this year, probably because of changes the IRS made to withholding tables — the amount the federal government recommends taking out of your paycheck for federal income taxes — to adjust to the new tax law. He figures he’ll need to save a few more months for the car.

Ramirez, who didn’t vote for Trump, couldn’t remember whether his total tax bill went up or down. He was just focused on his refund.

The average tax refund check is down 8% ($170) this year versus last, the IRS reported Friday, and the number of people receiving a refund has dropped by almost a quarter.

An IRS spokesman said not to read too much into these early data because they only reflect returns processed through Feb. 1, and the partial government shutdown caused some delays in processing filings.

The early data can shift around a lot, tax experts say, but there’s reason to believe frustrations could rise as more Americans complete their tax returns. The Government Accountability Office warned last summer that the number of tax filers who receive refunds was likely to drop for the 2018 tax year and the number of filers who owe money would rise.

The GAO pointed to an IRS estimate that about 4.6 million fewer filers would receive refunds this tax filing season. Another 4.6 million filers were likely to owe money who hadn’t had that experience in the past. There is no estimate for how many people will receive a smaller refund than last year.

Many Americans may believe that their small refund is a sign that they paid more in taxes as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Generally, that is not true.

According to the Tax Policy Center, 80% of filers received a tax cut and about 5% wound up paying more in federal income taxes. The tax cuts showed up in fatter weekly or biweekly paychecks for most Americans, but few people noticed, according to polling.

“There’s a difference between taxes and your refund,” said Joseph Rosenberg, a senior research associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute. “People generally got a piece of their tax cut last year gradually in the form of lower withholding on their paychecks.”

What happened to many families is they received a tax cut, but their refund is smaller this year because of the major changes the IRS made to the withholding tables. The IRS was trying to set withholding levels so that more people would pay the correct amount of taxes, meaning they neither owe anything to the IRS at the end of the year nor receive a refund.

“Getting a tax refund means that you gave the government an interest-free loan because you overpaid your taxes,” said Nicole Kaeding of the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank.

But many Americans prefer refunds, even though personal finance experts say it’s not a wise idea to get one.

“It’s a mystery why taxpayers seem to be comfortable — and even happy — with getting refund checks,” Rosenberg said.

About 75% of filers received refunds in recent years. Many Americans appear to like getting a refund because they feel that if they received an extra $20 to $40 a week, they would spend it. But when they get a onetime refund of $1,000 to $2,000, they put it toward paying off credit card debt, paying down a mortgage or saving for retirement.

The refund situation marks the latest potential trouble for Republicans over their tax law. They argued it would be a political winner, but it has consistently polled poorly.