Who is included in the tax refund income breakdown?

The percentile table covers taxable individuals only: 13,239,911 people, of whom 9,484,129, or 71.6%, had a refundable assessment worth $32.16 billion in total. The remaining 2,251,477 refunds in the 2023–24 totals, worth $3.66 billion, went to non-taxable individuals, who sit outside this income breakdown. The ATO does not publish a refund split by income range covering all individuals.

How do tax refunds happen?

A tax refund occurs when tax already paid during the year, together with refundable credits, exceeds the amount assessed as owing. For most employees, PAYG withholding is the main form of tax prepaid during the year.

Tax refunds over time

The average tax refund rose from $2,514 in 2012–13 to $3,052 in 2023–24, an increase of $538, or 21%. It peaked at $3,221 in 2021–22, the final income year in which the low and middle income tax offset applied.

The average Australian tax refund

Published 17 Aug 2026

Average refund: $3,052; 2023–24 assessments; the median refund was $1,609
Returns refunded: 11.7m; 70.8% of the 16.6 million individual returns assessed for 2023–24
Total refunded: $35.8b; Against $39.1 billion assessed as payable on other 2023–24 returns
Refunds under $2,000: 6.7m; The most common outcome: 57% of all 2023–24 refunds

Section 01 · The headline number

What is the average Australian tax refund?

The mean refund of $3,052 is pulled upwards by a small number of large refunds, while the median refund was $1,609¹: more than half of all refunds were under $2,000. Both figures relate to individual income tax returns for the 2023–24 income year, based on returns the ATO processed by 31 October 2025.

Refunds are also much smaller than tax bills. The 3.8 million returns assessed as payable owed an average of $10,362 with a median of $2,159. The $39.1 billion assessed as payable on these returns was slightly higher than the $35.8 billion assessed as refundable¹. Netted across the 15.5 million assessments that resulted in either a refund or a tax bill, individuals as a group owed $3.3 billion more than they were refunded, the first net-payable year in the published 12-year series.

Refund and bill amounts are the ATO-calculated tax refundable and tax payable items on assessment. The net figure spans the 15,511,690 returns with either outcome; 2022–23 netted to $1.48b (refundable).
Individual assessment outcomes · 2023–24
Outcome	Individuals	Average	Median	Total
Refund (tax refundable)	11,735,606	$3,052	$1,609	$35.82b
Tax bill (tax payable)	3,776,084	$10,362	$2,159	$39.13b
No refund or bill	1,072,597	na	na	na
All returns assessed	16,584,287	na	na	net +$3.31b payable

Source · ATO Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals Tables 1B and 13.

Section 02 · Refund share

How many individual tax returns result in a refund?

Of the individual 2023–24 returns processed by 31 October 2025, 70.8% resulted in a refund, or 11,735,606 of 16,584,287². Another 22.8% resulted in a tax bill, while 6.5%, or 1.1 million, resulted in neither a refund nor an amount owing.

Placeholder for native chart: individual tax return outcomes Australia 2023–24 — Shares are derived from the band counts in Table 13 and are rounded to one decimal place, so they sum to 100.1.

Most refunds were under $2,000. The $1 to $1,999 band accounted for 6,710,981 refunds, or 57.2% of all refunds and 40.5% of all individuals assessed². At the other end, 2.57 million people received refunds of $4,000 or more, representing 21.9% of those refunded. This included 553,245 refunds of $10,000 or more.

Placeholder for native chart: tax refunds by size band Australia 2023–24 — Band boundaries are the ATO's published assessment ranges; refunds of exactly $0 fall in the separate no refund or debit group, not in these bands.

Shares derived: band count ÷ 11,735,606 refunded individuals, rounded to one decimal place, so they sum to 99.9.
Refunds by size band · 2023–24
Refund band	Individuals	Share of refunds
$1 – $1,999	6,710,981	57.2%
$2,000 – $3,999	2,454,863	20.9%
$4,000 – $5,999	1,060,967	9.0%
$6,000 – $7,999	633,023	5.4%
$8,000 – $9,999	322,527	2.7%
$10,000 or more	553,245	4.7%

Source · ATO Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals Table 13.

Section 03 · By income

Average tax refunds by income range

Average refund amounts are lowest around the middle of the taxable income distribution and rise sharply in the highest income deciles. Across the three lowest deciles, average refunds range from $2,804 to $2,963 before falling to $2,440 in the fifth decile, then rising to $4,429 in the ninth decile and $8,332 in the tenth³. The share of individuals receiving a refund moves in the opposite direction, falling steadily from about four in five at the bottom of the distribution to just over half in the top decile.

Assessment outcomes at the top are larger in both directions. The same top decile that averaged an $8,332 refund also produced the largest tax bills, averaging $42,173 among those owing. This is consistent with larger balancing adjustments in both directions³.

Placeholder for native chart: average tax refund by income decile Australia 2023–24 — Derived figures: percentile cells aggregated into deciles; each decile's average is its total refundable amount divided by its refunded count. Income boundaries for each decile are in the table below.

Derived from percentile cells: share = refunded count ÷ individuals in the decile; average = refundable total ÷ refunded count. Income boundaries are the ATO's published percentile ranges.
Refunds by taxable income decile · taxable individuals, 2023–24
Decile	Taxable income range	Share with a refund	Average refund
1	$32,645 or less	79.9%	$2,804
2	$32,646 – $42,390	79.3%	$2,850
3	$42,391 – $51,602	77.9%	$2,963
4	$51,603 – $61,261	76.1%	$2,560
5	$61,262 – $71,795	72.8%	$2,440
6	$71,796 – $84,285	71.5%	$2,577
7	$84,286 – $100,177	70.0%	$2,923
8	$100,178 – $121,836	68.8%	$3,634
9	$121,837 – $162,971	67.4%	$4,429
10	$162,972 or more	52.6%	$8,332

Source · ATO Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals Table 16A.

Section 04 · The mechanics

What are the main reasons for a tax refund?

Australia's income tax is largely prepaid. Employers withheld $275.4 billion from the pay of 13.1 million people during 2023–24 under pay as you go (PAYG) withholding, while a further 1.7 million people paid $31.3 billion through PAYG instalments¹. The notice of assessment then reconciles these prepayments and credits with net tax assessed, which totalled $329.5 billion across 13.2 million taxable individuals. When prepayments and refundable credits exceed the assessed tax liability, the difference is refunded⁴.

Withholding rates are set on standardised scales that do not account for a person's final tax position, so several situations can result in a refund:

Deductions claimed at lodgment, including work-related expenses, donations and the cost of managing tax affairs, reduce taxable income after withholding has already been taken.
Working for only part of the year can result in too much tax being withheld because withholding scales are based on each pay period rather than final annual income.
Tax offsets may be applied by the ATO at assessment after lodgment rather than through regular pay⁵.
Refundable credits, such as franking credits attached to dividends, can also result in a refund, even where little or no tax was withheld.

The ATO lists several reasons a tax bill can arise from the same reconciliation process, including insufficient withholding across multiple jobs, claiming the tax-free threshold with more than one employer, business or investment income without withholding, capital gains events, and study-loan repayments not fully covered by withholding⁶. A wider explanation of where refunds sit in the system is in how the Australian tax system works.

Section 05 · Deductions

How work-related deductions can affect refunds

Work-related expenses are the largest deduction category claimed by individuals. For 2023–24, 10,678,121 people claimed work-related expenses, averaging $2,956 per claimant with a median of $1,434⁷. Their $31.6 billion total accounted for 53% of all deductions claimed by individuals⁸. Total deductions of all kinds came to $59.1 billion¹.

The average work-related expense claim rose by $653, or 28%, over the four years from its $2,303 low in 2019–20, after holding between $2,303 and $2,548 across the seven years to 2019–20⁷.

A deduction does not reduce tax by the full amount claimed. Instead, it reduces taxable income, so the effect on the final tax assessment depends on the tax rate that would otherwise apply to that income and the person's broader tax position. The exact rates and thresholds, and how they have moved, are tabled in the full history of Australian income tax brackets.

Placeholder for native chart: average work-related expenses claim Australia — The 2017–18 average is published as $2,424.35 and shown rounded to $2,424.

Values shown to the nearest dollar.
Average work-related expenses claim by income year
Income year	Average claim
2013–14	$2,417
2014–15	$2,531
2015–16	$2,548
2016–17	$2,487
2017–18	$2,424
2018–19	$2,331
2019–20	$2,303
2020–21	$2,381
2021–22	$2,506
2022–23	$2,739
2023–24	$2,956

Source · ATO Taxation statistics 2023–24, Snapshot data tables, Individuals – selected deductions.

Section 06 · Refunds vs tax paid

Does a bigger tax refund mean less tax was paid?

A tax refund and the amount of tax paid measure different things. A refund arises when tax paid during the year and refundable credits exceed the final assessed liability, while the final tax assessment reflects the tax liability itself. In 2023–24 both rose together: the average refund increased from $2,948 to $3,052 while average net tax per taxable individual increased from $23,562 to $24,888⁷.

A person who receives a refund can still pay more tax overall than someone who receives no refund. The $35.8 billion refunded in 2023–24 sat alongside $329.5 billion in net tax assessed¹ across taxable individuals.

The system-wide balance can also shift towards tax bills even when average refunds increase. Across 15.5 million assessments that resulted in either a refund or a tax bill, 2023–24 netted to $3.3 billion payable, the first net-payable result in the 12-year published series. In 2022–23 the net position was $1.5 billion refundable¹.

What individuals actually pay, and how that differs from what the brackets imply, is covered in how much income tax the average Australian actually pays.

Section 07 · The long run

How has the average tax refund changed over time?

From 2012–13 to 2017–18 the average refund remained between $2,495 and $2,574. It then rose to $2,959 in 2018–19, an increase of $405, or 15.9%, from the previous year. The average remained close to $3,000 and peaked at $3,221 in 2021–22 before falling $273 to $2,948 in 2022–23¹.

The total refunded followed the same shape, jumping from $27.8 billion in 2017–18 to $34.6 billion in 2018–19 and peaking at $39.2 billion in 2021–22¹ on the ATO's consistent processing basis.

Placeholder for native chart: average and median tax refund Australia by year — All years as published in the 2023–24 edition's Table 1B, which holds the processing window constant; later processing lifts each year's figures (2021–22: $39.2 billion refunded on this basis, $40.6 billion as updated in the same edition's Table 1A). The shaded band marks the income years in which the low and middle income tax offset applied. The median was not published for 2012–13. Step and span changes quoted in this section are derived from these yearly averages: $405 = $2,959 − $2,554 (15.9%), $273 = $3,221 − $2,948, $538 = $3,052 − $2,514 (21%).

Each year sourced from returns processed by 31 October of the following year, so years are comparable but not final; totals rounded to $0.1b. The 2012–13 median was not published.
Tax refunds by income year · consistent processing basis
Income year	Returns refunded	Average refund	Median refund	Total refunded
2012–13	10,262,290	$2,514	na	$25.8b
2013–14	10,289,221	$2,495	$1,365	$25.7b
2014–15	10,329,907	$2,564	$1,391	$26.5b
2015–16	10,422,572	$2,574	$1,388	$26.8b
2016–17	10,766,199	$2,572	$1,399	$27.7b
2017–18	10,897,794	$2,554	$1,363	$27.8b
2018–19	11,691,272	$2,959	$1,823	$34.6b
2019–20	11,771,985	$2,934	$1,786	$34.5b
2020–21	11,718,752	$3,028	$1,990	$35.5b
2021–22	12,184,990	$3,221	$2,173	$39.2b
2022–23	11,655,044	$2,948	$1,507	$34.4b
2023–24	11,735,606	$3,052	$1,609	$35.8b

Source · ATO Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals Table 1B.

Section 08

Tax refunds: quick answers

What is the average tax refund in Australia?

The average refund on individual income tax assessments for 2023–24 was $3,052, across 11,735,606 refunds totalling $35.8 billion, based on returns processed by 31 October 2025. The median refund was $1,609, and refunds under $2,000 were the most common outcome, so most refunds are well below the average.

What percentage of tax returns get a refund?

Around seven in ten individual tax returns resulted in a refund in 2023–24. Of the 16.6 million returns assessed, 70.8% resulted in a refund, 22.8% in a tax bill and 6.5% in neither a refund nor a bill.

Why did average refunds fall after 2021–22?

On the ATO's consistent processing basis, the average refund peaked at $3,221 in 2021–22 and fell to $2,948 in 2022–23, a drop of $273. The fall coincided with the end of the low and middle income tax offset. The 2021–22 income year was the last in which LMITO applied, when it was worth up to $1,500. The ATO calculated the offset on assessment after lodgment, but the published data does not attribute the fall in average refunds to LMITO alone.

Does a bigger refund mean less tax was paid?

No. A refund reflects tax paid during the year in excess of the final assessed liability; it is not a measure of total tax paid. In 2023–24 the average net tax per taxable individual rose to $24,888 at the same time as 11.7 million refunds averaging $3,052 were assessed.

How long does a tax refund take in Australia?

The ATO aims to process returns lodged online through myTax or a tax agent within 12 business days, and paper returns within 50 business days. The notice of assessment states whether there is a refund or amount owing. The ATO can review an assessment for 2 years in most individual cases, or 4 years in certain circumstances.

References

ATO, Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals Table 1: selected items by year (Tables 1A and 1B) · data.gov.au ↑ b c d e f g h
ATO, Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals Table 13: tax assessment ranges · data.gov.au ↑ b
ATO, Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals Table 16A: percentile distribution of taxable individuals · data.gov.au ↑ b
ATO, Your notice of assessment (QC 16302) · ato.gov.au ↑
ATO, Low and middle income earner tax offsets (QC 72196) · ato.gov.au ↑
ATO, Why you may receive a tax bill (QC 54461) · ato.gov.au ↑
ATO, Taxation statistics 2023–24, Snapshot data tables (all summary tables) · data.gov.au ↑ b c
ATO, media release: 2023–24 Taxation Statistics released (QC 107551) · ato.gov.au ↑
ATO, Taxation statistics 2023–24, Snapshot Table 1: historical rates of personal income tax · data.gov.au