Treasury says 53 million filers used new Trump tax breaks before the deadline
It's Tax Day on Wednesday — the deadline for most Americans to file taxes — and President Donald Trump's administration says millions of people have already used new breaks such as no tax on tips and overtime, exemptions for interest on certain car loans, deductions for some seniors, and Trump Accounts for children’s savings.
More than 53 million filers claimed a deduction under one of those provisions from the administration's massive tax and spending law, a Treasury official told reporters Tuesday before the deadline, with 6 million people claiming no tax on tips, 21 million claiming the overtime deduction and 30 million older Americans claiming the enhanced deduction.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the numbers, said the 2026 filing season was a success from the administration's perspective.
Still, the latest data comes as most Americans, or 7 in 10, still think their taxes are too high, according to recent polling, despite the passage of the Republican tax law which promised big savings for taxpayers.
Illinois taxpayers who can't meet the April 15 deadline are automatically granted a six-month extension, according to the state's Department of Revenue. Those who file on a calendar-bases would have until Oct. 15.
But the department said in a news release that an extension doesn't extend the time to pay. "If taxes are owed, taxpayers must pay the amount due by April 15, 2026, to avoid penalties and interest," the department said.
As the tax season kicked off in January, the White House boasted that average refunds were projected to rise by at least $1,000. But currently, the average refund amount is $3,462, according to the latest IRS data, which is up 11% or about $350 from last tax year’s $3,116 average refund payment.
“People are getting refunds of $5,000, $8,000, $11,000 that they had no idea they were getting,” Trump said Wednesday on Fox Business News. “It’s turned out to be better — as good or better than I said it would be.”
The Treasury said tax refunds this season are up 24%, compared with the four-year average of refunds before Trump took office.
The White House has been trying to promote Trump's tax cuts as a way to get voters more enthusiastic about the way he's handling the economy before November's midterm elections, but the message has been overshadowed for weeks by higher gas prices caused by the war in Iran.
The 2026 season comes as the IRS has gone through a leadership turnover and reduced its workforce by 27% over the past year through cuts brought on by the Department of Government Efficiency.
IRS CEO Frank Bisignano testified to the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, extolling the IRS' implementation of the Trump administration's tax law.
However, Democratic lawmakers have been zeroing in on IRS disclosures of confidential taxpayer information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of an agreement between ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to share information for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S.
Contributing: Sun-Times