Nearly two-thirds of American families will find themselves with a little
extra money to spend this spring. The NRF 2004 Tax Returns Consumer Intentions
and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch for NRF, found that 67.6
percent of consumers (or 145.7 million people) expect to receive a tax refund
this year.* Although April 15 is the deadline to file taxes, 65.1 percent
of consumers filed in January or February while another 20.9 percent will
file in March. Only 14.0 percent of consumers plan to wait until April to
file their taxes.
Though many consumers plan to use their refund checks to pay down debt (49.2%)
or add to their savings (37.4%), others will use their refund for everyday
expenses (27.0%), to make a major purchase (11.6%), or for vacation (12.2%).
Tax time provides a big boost to retailers during a traditionally slow time
of the year, said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. Though some consumers
will choose to spend their refunds while others plan to save, these tax refunds
will ultimately put consumers in a better position to spend, now and in the
future.
The Internal Revenue Service has announced that the average tax return as
of March 5, 2004 was $2,182, up 4.4 percent from $2,089 last year at that
time. For more information on tax returns to date, click here.
About the Survey
The NRF 2004 Tax Returns Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted
for NRF by BIGresearch, was designed to gauge consumer behaviour and shopping
trends related to tax returns. The poll of 7,224 consumers was conducted from
February 4-11. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0
percent.
BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer
insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch's
syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse
of more than 7,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique
insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.
The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade
association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels
of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalogue, Internet
and independent stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail
goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.4 million
U.S. retail establishments, more than 23 million employees - about one in
five American workers - and 2003 sales of $3.8 trillion. As the industry umbrella
group, NRF also represents more than 100 states, national and international
retail associations. www.nrf.com.
*The tax returns estimate reflects the approximate number of people who
will be filing taxes. However, since many people file joint tax returns, the
number does not estimate the number of tax returns.
Click
here for sample charts from this survey as well as complete results by
age, gender, and region of the country.
