on Facebook<\/a> and at Thursday\u2019s Fiesta Fiesta kickoff if they received larger-than-expected refunds or no refund at all.<\/p>\n\u201cIs that $340 in the room with us?\u201d Noel Martinez commented on Facebook. <\/p>\n
\u201cI got a WHOPPING $185 back,\u201d Mark Muniz also commented.<\/p>\n
At Thursday\u2019s Fiesta Fiesta, Angie Gonzalez said she received more than expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was worth the wait,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cSo, I was crossing my fingers that I didn\u2019t have to pay, and I didn\u2019t have to pay. But everybody, I hope you all got taxes back, extra money to spend at Fiesta.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s behind the difference between the tax returns?<\/p>\n
Why some refunds increased<\/p>\n
The most common reason people receive a refund is simple: they paid more in taxes throughout the year than they ultimately owed, according to Walt Tilleman with Tammy\u2019s Tax Service in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
This happens when too much money is withheld from paychecks.<\/p>\n
This year, perks from President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act\u201d also played a role in boosting refund amounts:<\/p>\n
Expanded standard deductions for seniors: Older taxpayers benefited from an additional $6,000 added to their standard deduction, reducing taxable income and increasing potential refunds. <\/p>\n
Tax relief on overtime and tips: Workers who earned income through overtime or tips saw relief. Some of that income was no longer taxed, which led to larger refunds. <\/p>\n
Enhanced credits for families: Low-to moderate income families, especially those with multiple children, saw significant gains. The Child Tax Credit increased to $2,200 per child. When combined with the Earned Income Tax Credit, many families received sizable refunds. <\/p>\n
Who didn\u2019t see much change?<\/p>\n
Not everyone saw a windfall. Tilleman said single filers earning moderate to higher incomes were more likely to break even. That\u2019s because:<\/p>\n
They typically fall into higher tax brackets <\/p>\n
They may not qualify for income-based credits <\/p>\n
Their withholdings are often more closely aligned with what they actually owe <\/p>\n
The bottom line<\/p>\n
A bigger refund doesn\u2019t necessarily mean a better financial outcome. It often reflects how much tax was prepaid during the year, Tilleman said. <\/p>\n
For many households, especially families and lower-income workers, this year\u2019s changes delivered a meaningful boost.<\/p>\n
Whether your refund was large, small or nonexistent, the variation comes down to income level, tax credits and how much was withheld in the first place.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The U.S. Treasury Department reports that the average tax refund this year has climbed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[56556,2409,2349,82,84,83,2051],"class_list":{"0":"post-255561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-affording-san-antonio","9":"tag-consumer","10":"tag-money","11":"tag-san-antonio","12":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","13":"tag-san-antonio-news","14":"tag-taxes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}