As Tax Day nears this
year, many people loathe filing their taxes. Even with the tax filing deadline
extended, many Americans will put off filing their taxes until the very last
minutes.
A new study by IPX 1031
took a look at the subject of tax procrastinators. In the study, they examined the
biggest tax procrastinators both on the state level and on the city level. They
also examined when Americans filed their taxes in 2019 by analyzing IRS data to
specifically see the most popular weeks for tax filing. This data was also
supplemented by a survey of 1,000 Americas about Tax Day. In the survey, they
asked respondents to identify when Tax Day was, asked about expected tax refund
amounts and how people plan on using their refund check. Let’s examine the
major takeaways of the study from IPX 1031.
The Biggest Tax Procrastinators by State
California (443)
Nevada (413)
Texas (392)
Colorado (385)
Oregon (375)
Washington (366)
Hawaii (361)
Georgia (355)
Arizona (336)
Maryland (333)
Florida (323)
Massachusetts (320)
New York (319)
Virginia (310)
North Carolina (306)
Arkansas (302)
Illinois (291)
Tennessee (288)
Utah (283)
New Mexico (276)
New Jersey (274)
Louisiana (273)
Delaware (270)
Rhode Island (270)
Connecticut (265)
South Carolina (263)
Alabama (263)
Minnesota (261)
Oklahoma (251)
Vermont (249)
New Hampshire (240)
Idaho (235)
Kentucky (233)
Montana (231)
Kansas (228)
Maine (226)
Ohio (223)
Arizona (221)
North Dakota (221)
Indiana (220)
Wyoming (220)
Missouri (218)
Pennsylvania (213)
Wisconsin (212)
Michigan (210)
Nebraska (206)
Mississippi (204)
West Virginia (189)
Iowa (175)
South Dakota (175)
Biggest Tax Procrastinators by City
The second part of the analysis was similar to the one above but instead examined the 30 largest cities in the U.S. to see which big city has the most tax filing procrastinators.
Las Vegas (1,108)
Denver (1,058)
Seattle (988)
San Francisco (911)
Washington D.C. (901)
Portland (863)
Austin (846)
Baltimore (763)
Dallas (752)
Houston (726)
Boston (698)
Nashville (684)
Los Angeles (679)
San Diego (678)
San Jose (661)
Charlotte (618)
Chicago (593)
Fort Worth (516)
Oklahoma City (485)
Philadelphia (449)
Louisville (448)
New York City (446)
Phoenix (440)
El Paso (428)
Jacksonville (419)
Memphis (418)
Indianapolis (413)
Detroit (410)
Columbus (410)
San Antonio (403)
When Americans File Their Taxes the Most
The next part of the analysis examined the most popular weeks that you can file. This data was sourced directly from the IRS. This may not be surprising, but the most popular week to file your taxes without an extension is the very last week before Tax Day. The second most popular week is a bit more surprising. The first week of tax filing season is actually the second most popular week to file your taxes. After the first week, the amount of tax returns filed slowly decline until around the week of March 15th in which there is a steady climb in the amount of tax returns filed peaking the week of May 15th.
When is Tax Day?
The next part of the study from IPX 1031 surveyed over 1,000 Americans to learn more about their tax-filing habits. Shockingly enough, 23% of all surveyed respondents were not able to identify May 15th as Tax Day in America.
The survey also asked about the expected tax refund amount that Americans expect to receive this year. Listed below is the generational breakdown of expected tax refund amount:
Gen Z - $1,338
Millennials - $2,476
Gen X - $1,433
Baby Boomers - $946
Average of all responses - $1,982
How Americans Plan to Use Their Refund
Listed below is a breakdown of how Americans said they plan to use their tax refund this year:
Paying off debt – 39%
Saving it – 31%
Investing it – 14%
Planning a vacation – 8%
Making a major life purchase - 4%
Other -4%
The survey also asked about owing money to the IRS and filing a tax extension. Only 30% of surveyed respondents said they were worried about owing money to the IRS this year. With that, only 24% of surveyed respondents said they have filed for a tax extension. 29% of respondents said they have turned to a tax professional because filing online was too complicated for them.
The full results from the study on American’s biggest tax procrastinators can be seen in the graphics below. The methodology for the study was a mix of Google search trends data, data directly from the IRS and a survey of over 1,000 Americans that was performed in February of this year. The study also features two interactive maps where you can see the search volume for each state and city that was analyzed.
Planning a vacation – 8%
Making a major life purchase - 4%
Other -4%
The survey also asked about owing money to the IRS and filing a tax extension. Only 30% of surveyed respondents said they were worried about owing money to the IRS this year. With that, only 24% of surveyed respondents said they have filed for a tax extension. 29% of respondents said they have turned to a tax professional because filing online was too complicated for them.
The full results from the study on American’s biggest tax procrastinators can be seen in the graphics below. The methodology for the study was a mix of Google search trends data, data directly from the IRS and a survey of over 1,000 Americans that was performed in February of this year. The study also features two interactive maps where you can see the search volume for each state and city that was analyzed.
infographic by: www.ipx1031.com
