Who paid the most taxes in New Jersey? Who got the highest federal returns?

Only nine months until Tax Day!

While it may be a little too early to start thinking about your 2024 tax return (or is it?), financial website SmartAsset released its annual look at the places where folks receive the largest federal tax returns, as well as where they owe the most.

In total, the average federal tax refund in New Jersey was $3,345. The average amount owed was $8,131.

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The study found that taxpayers in Bergen County received the largest federal tax refunds, averaging $3,776. On the flip side, taxpayers in Somerset County owed the most on average, $10,836.

According to SmartAsset, "to determine the counties that received the highest average refunds, we divided the total amount of money refunded by the IRS in each county by the number of refunds issued in each county. We did the same to calculate the average amount owed, by dividing the total taxes owed in each county by the number of filers that still owe taxes."

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Largest tax refunds in New Jersey

The top 10 counties where people received the highest average tax return are:

1. Bergen, $3,776
2. Essex, $3,744
3. Somerset, $3,661
4. Hunterdon, $3,655
5. Morris, $3,446
6. Monmouth, $3,410
7. Mercer, $3,388
8. Union, $3,355
9. Ocean, $3,336
10. Cumberland, $3,291.

Highest federal tax bills in New Jersey

The counties where people owed the highest average federal taxes are:

1. Somerset, $10,836
2. Morris, $10,682
3. Monmouth, $10,515
4. Cape May, $10,233
5. Bergen, $9,993
6. Hunterdon, $9,767
7. Essex, $9,251
8. Mercer, $8,098
9. Union, $8,088
10. Middlesex, $6,921.