This Flight Calculator Will Find the Best Trip You Can Afford With Your Tax Refund

Getting a tax refund can feel like found money, and Kayak is helping people figure out how to spend those checks on a vacation with a Tax Refund Trip Calculator.

The calculator, which the travel search engine shared with Travel + Leisure, allows travelers to input the amount of their 2022 tax refund and turns that into a flight they can afford.

After travelers enter the amount they received, the site directs them to a map with destinations and prices.

From there, travelers can choose what type of trip they want — like a city or beach getaway, a family trip, a romantic trip, or something outdoorsy — and explore possible destinations. Customers can also narrow down the search by putting in a date range and whether or not they're open to stopovers.

“If your travel dates are flexible, you can uncover some amazing deals with Kayak’s Tax Refund calculator,” Jake Bouvrie, Kayak’s chief economist, told T+L. “Right now, for example, you can snag flight deals from NYC to Europe for under $500 if you travel during shoulder season versus the peak summer months.”

This is the second year Kayak has had a refund calculator.

“Despite flight prices being up, there are plenty of places people can travel if they’re flexible. [Kayak’s] Tax Refund Calculator gives a great overview of all the different places you can go within your budget (or within your tax refund for that matter),” a Kayak spokesperson told T+L.

So far, the average refund amount for 2023 has been $2,910, according to statistics from the Internal Revenue Service as of March 31. While that is more than enough to plan a trip (Kayak said the average four-day domestic trip runs about $1,400 for flights and hotel), it is a 9.8-percent decrease from 2022 when the average refund amount was $3,226.