MA Refund Payments Will Start Going Out To Taxpayers

MASSACHUSETTS — The state will begin sending refund checks to Massachusetts taxpayers on Tuesday following a nearly $3 billion revenue surplus this year.

About 3 million state residents will get checks, either through direct deposit or the mail. Eligible taxpayers will get a refund of about 13% of their 2021 personal income tax liability. To be eligible, you must have file a 2021 state tax return before Sept. 15, 2023. The checks will be sent automatically to eligible residents.

Refunds might be reduced due to unpaid debts like tax liability and child support, according to the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance.

The state has built a calculator that allows residents to estimate how much they might receive under the refund program. The state also has a 62F hotline open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 877-677-9727.

The refunds are coming thanks to a little-known 1980s law — 62F — that says tax revenue growth can't exceed the sum of wages and salaries of all state residents in a given fiscal year. The state collected $41.8 billion in tax revenue in fiscal year 2022, which is $2.94 billion more than allowed under against the wages and salaries last year.

The funds being returned under 62F are part of a larger overage in state coffers. Massachusetts ended fiscal year 2022 with a surplus near $2.3 billion. Gov. Charlie Baker has proposed a spending plan for about $840 million of it, leaving another $1.5 billion left. But state lawmakers, who went on recess in August, have not hammered out a final plan for the money, or for additional coronavirus stimulus funds.