Your tax refund will likely be smaller this year. Here are more things to know

It's time to file your tax return, and many of us are facing smaller refunds, shrunken tax credits and deductions — right as inflation and higher debt loads are biting into our budgets.

The IRS starts accepting tax returns for 2022 earnings on Jan. 23, and it will issue tax refunds in the weeks and months that follow.

And some of us could be in for a surprise.

"People should absolutely expect smaller tax refunds this year. And frankly, some people might even owe the government money," financial expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox told NPR.

"There's really four main reasons why," she said. "The first is: no more stimulus checks. The second is that what was called the enhanced child credit — that's gone."

A special pandemic-era tax break for charitable deductions was also nixed, Khalfani-Cox said. And even after a volatile year on the stock market, some people might face taxes on investment gains, especially if they own mutual funds that had to sell off