Tax payers are seeing smaller refunds

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind.--- The IRS reports that tax refund amounts are eight percent lower than in 2018. Financial advisers point to lower federal taxes as the culprit.

"What’s going into that though, the money that people had in each paycheck, throughout 2018 was higher," said Ryan Fair, a CPA at the Korhorn Financial Group. "So they had a higher take home pay is the way that it all shook out." 

According to the IRS, the average refund was about $170 less than last year. Fair says the amount that is saved over the course of the year far greater than the refund decrease. 

"It's only about three or four dollars per week worth of tax," said Fair "If you compare back to your actual paycheck, before and after the tax law went into effect, I'm sure your take home pay was a lot more than that three or for dollar difference."

For those wanting to see a larger refund for the 2019 year, Fair suggests changing the amount of taxes withheld from your paycheck each period.