Technologies

IRS Has Issued Over $211 Billion in Tax Refunds, With 2025’s Filing Season Ending Today

With today’s federal income tax deadline, the IRS surpasses numbers from 2024.

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The 2025 tax season has been underway since late January, and for many tax payers, the filing season officially wraps up today (unless you’ve filed an extension or the IRS issued you more time to file due to local natural disasters). That means more than 100 million taxpayers have already filed their tax return and have already received their refund money or are patiently tracking their tax refunds.

Last Friday, the IRS said it has received over 101 million tax returns and issued more than 67 million tax refunds. Through the final week of the 2024 tax season, the average refund amount had risen by approximately 3.5% compared to 2023’s season.

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Read on for a breakdown of how the IRS has been performing up to Tax Day.

For more tax tips, check out our essential tax filing cheat sheet and how to track your refund from the IRS into your bank account. Check out our pick for the best tax software of 2025.

How many tax returns has the IRS processed so far in 2025?

On Friday, the IRS released statistics comparing its progress through the 10th week of tax season 2024 (ending April 5, 2024) with its progress through the 10th week of 2025 (ending April 4, 2025). So far this year, the IRS has processed 100.3 million federal income tax returns, up 0.2% from the 100.1 million returns it had processed by the same time last year.

The IRS has received more than 101.4 million tax returns total so far, compared with 101.8 million last year, marking a 0.4% decrease.

The agency also breaks down how returns have been filed, with 98.1 million returns received electronically (53.3 million filed by tax professionals and 44.7 million self-prepared).

How many tax refunds has the IRS issued in 2025?

The IRS has issued 67.7 million refunds, a 1.4% increase from the approximate 66.8 million sent out at this point in 2024.

The average tax refund amount so far is $3,116, up 3.5% from last year’s average of $3,011 at this time last year.

How do 2025’s tax refunds compare to 2024’s so far?

So far, the IRS has issued more than $211 billion in tax refunds, a 5% increase from the $201 billion in tax refunds it had issued by this time in 2024.

The IRS noted that large percentage differences in filing statistics are typical for the beginning of each tax season. It accurately predicted that the numbers would even out as more people gathered important tax documents and filed before today’s Tax Day deadline.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for March 15, #1730

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for March 15, No. 1,730.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a fairly common word, but the beginning letter is one I rarely guess. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with G.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with E.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a mark that a student receives in a class.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is GRADE.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, March 14, No. 1729, was ANKLE.

Recent Wordle answers

March 10, No. 1725: SHOAL

March 11, No. 1726: TEDDY

March 12, No. 1727: SMELL

March 13, No. 1728: EATEN

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 15, #538

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 15, No. 538.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today is Selection Sunday, and the Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is all about the NCAA basketball tournament. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Oops!

Green group hint: Not the second word.

Blue group hint: They direct the team.

Purple group hint: They made it to the Big Dance.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Basketball fouls.

Green group: First words in NCAA tournament rounds.

Blue group: Women’s college basketball coaches.

Purple group: Teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball fouls. The four answers are block, charge, hold and reach-in.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is first words in NCAA tournament rounds. The four answers are elite, final, second and sweet.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is women’s college basketball coaches. The four answers are Auriemma, Close, Ivey and Staley.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament. The four answers are Gonzaga, High Point, Queens and Troy.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, March 15

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 15.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Today’s wasn’t terribly tough, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.