How to estimate the size of your refund before you even file your taxes

• The IRS will begin accepting tax returns on Monday, January 27. Taxes are due on Wednesday, April 15.
• The sooner you file your tax return, the sooner you'll get your tax refund if you're owed one.
• Once you have your W-2 or 1099 forms, it'll take less than five minutes to estimate your tax refund using H&R Block's free tax refund estimator.
• Read more personal finance coverage.

Tax season can bring about headaches, but many Americans look forward to the annual consolation prize: a tax refund.

According to IRS data, over 111 million Americans received federal tax refunds for the 2018 tax year, averaging $2,860 per refund. The IRS will begin accepting tax returns for 2019 on January 27. You can file your taxes as soon as you have all the appropriate tax forms from your employer and any other businesses from which you earned income (wages, interest, dividends, etc.) throughout the year.

These forms must be filed and postmarked by businesses on or before January 31, so you should have everything you need to file your tax return by mid-February. If you file electronically and select direct deposit - the method recommended by the IRS - you should have your refund within 21 days.

But you don't have to wait until you file to find out the size of your refund, if you're owed one. As soon as you have your W-2 or 1099 forms from every employer you had in 2019, you can estimate your tax refund (or tax bill, if you underpaid in taxes) with the help of an online tax preparer.

Use a tax refund estimator to find out how much you could get back

H&R Block has a super simple tax refund estimator that takes just a few minutes to complete - you don't have to sign up for an account or pay for anything up front.

You begin by answering a few questions about yourself, including your marital status and age.

Next you can enter the necessary figures from your W-2 and 1099 forms.

These are the only three numbers you'll need from your W-2:

• 2019 total wages (box 1 on your W-2)
• Federal income taxes withheld (box 2 on your W-2)
• State income tax (box 17 on your W-2) - you can ignore this one if your state doesn't tax income

If you had multiple W-2 jobs in 2019, then you can enter the information for each one separately. If you had 1099 income, you can select "no" in the prompt above and you'll be able to add up all the estimated pretax wages from your various 1099s and include them as one. If you paid quarterly taxes, you can enter that amount a few steps later.

Next, you'll get a rough estimate of your tax refund.

If you want a more accurate figure, you'll have to provide more information about your financial situation, including whether you're a homeowner, have children, earn investment income, or have potentially deductible expenses.

After you enter all your income sources and expenses, you'll get your refund estimate. It's good to remember that this estimate is only as reliable as the information you provide. If you left out a source of income, or your numbers are just approximations, your refund will likely look different.

A smaller refund doesn't always mean you paid more in taxes

Though many Americans rely on the windfall from a tax refund, financial experts say a larger or smaller refund is not indicative of whether a person paid more or less in taxes, but rather of the amount withheld from their paycheck. Receiving a smaller refund doesn't necessarily mean you had a higher tax bill than previous years. It could even mean you went home with a bigger paycheck throughout the year.

Big tax refunds generally mean you paid too much in taxes - you had too much income tax taken out of each paycheck, and now the IRS is returning what is rightfully yours. Instead of keeping your money in a savings or retirement account where it could earn interest all year, you essentially gave an interest-free loan to the government, Business Insider previously reported.

As Lauren Lyons Cole, a certified financial planner, said, "I always try to either owe slightly or break even when filing my tax return." A tax refund of zero means you optimized your income throughout the year, putting yourself in the best possible position to increase your net worth, she said.

Learn more about H&R Block »

• More tax day coverage:
• When are taxes due?
• How to file taxes for 2019
• What is a tax credit?
• H&R Block vs. TurboTax

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