$3b in tax cap checks to start going out Tuesday

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

THE FIRST CHECKS and direct deposits from a nearly $3 billion pot of excess tax revenue will head back to taxpayers starting on Tuesday when the calendar flips to November, the Baker administration announced Friday.

A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance said money will head out the door under the voter-approved tax cap law known as Chapter 62F, which taxpayers triggered for the first time since 1987 by delivering massive amounts of taxes.

About 3 million taxpayers will receive a refund in the form of a mailed check or a direct deposit worth about 14 percent of what they owed in state personal income tax in 2021, the spokesperson said. The administration plans to distribute the refunds on a rolling basis through December 15. The administration had previously estimated refunds of about 13 percent of income tax liabilities.

Taxpayers who owed state personal income tax last year and already filed their 2021 return are eligible and do not need to take any additional steps to receive their refunds.

The administration published a frequently asked questions page online with a calculator that taxpayers can use to estimate their forthcoming refunds.

The Baker administration previously said taxpayers needed to file a 2021 tax return by October 17, 2022 to be eligible for a 62F refund, but a spokesperson said Friday the administration pushed that deadline until September 15, 2023 — which is the latest date possible to file a 2021 tax return when accounting for extensions — to accommodate taxpayers who might not have been aware of the original deadline.