Awwal 30, 1432 H/March 5, 2011, SPA -- Almost 52 million Americans have filed their 2010 income tax returns, and the average refund is more than $3,000 officials said, according to UPI. About 45 million people have received refunds averaging $3,129, with direct deposit refunds averaging $3,257, CNNMoney reported. The average refund will probably drop because people getting the largest refunds usually file their tax returns earlier. Refunds a year ago averaged about $3,000. "A lot of times people have their withholding taxes artificially high during the year and plan for this large refund to fund a vacation or car or something like that," said Robert Willens, a taxation professor at Columbia Business School. "Even though it's not a good economic thing to do since they're essentially making an interest-free loan to the government." More people are filing returns online, while about 28 million people have had their taxes prepared by professionals this year. Willens, who also is president of a tax-consulting firm, said the number of people preparing their own taxes online has increased 6 percent from the same period a year ago to 19 million. "This is just part and parcel of the technology revolution," said Willens. "You can now take advantage of programs that take the mystery out of doing your taxes, so people are feeling that there's less need to hire an outside party, recognizing that the outside party will probably use the same programs."
