Pixabay|While federal stimulus checks ended several years ago, some states have continued to provide assistance to residents in the form of tax rebates or so-called “inflation relief” payments.
In context of such payments, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued clarification earlier this year that most relief checks issued by states last year aren’t subject to federal taxes and so for the most part don’t need to be reported on 2022 tax returns.
Here’s a look at what states are offering in terms of such payments in 2023, including eligibility criteria, delivery timelines, and amounts of money either already paid out—or still coming.
Alabama
Starting in the fall of 2023, Alabama residents will begin receiving one-time tax rebate checks. The payment amounts will be determined by the filing status reported on 2021 tax year returns.
If individuals filed as single, head of family, or married filing separately, they will receive a $150 tax rebate payment. For those who filed as married filing jointly, a $300 tax rebate payment will be issued.
Not all individuals, however, are eligible for the Alabama tax rebate. If you did not file a personal Alabama income tax return for the 2021 tax year, you will not qualify for the 2023 Alabama tax rebate check.
Furthermore, estates and trusts are ineligible to receive these payments. In addition, individuals who were claimed as dependents on a 2021 federal or Alabama state income tax return will not receive a rebate payment.
California
California’s middle-class tax refunds (MCTRs) were available to California residents who filed a 2020 tax return by Oct. 15, 2021, and met specific criteria.
These criteria included not exceeding income limits, not being claimed as a dependent on another person’s 2020 tax return, and being a California resident for at least six months in 2020.
The MCTR amount ranged from $200 to $1,050, depending on factors such as income, filing status, and dependents.
Payments were generally sent out between October 2022 and mid-January 2023, with most eligible Californians set to have received them by mid-February at the latest.
The California FTB reported that nearly 32,000,000 taxpayers and their dependents benefited from the tax refund.
Colorado
Coloradans were poised to receive “cash back” payments if they met the eligibility criteria.
In order to qualify, they must have been aged 18 or older as of Dec. 31, 2021, and they must have been residents of the state for the entirety of 2021 and filed a 2021 Colorado income tax return or applied for a Colorado property tax/rent/heat credit (PTC) rebate.
The payment amount varied based on the filing status indicated on the 2021 Colorado state tax return, with eligible single filers generally receiving $750 and eligible joint filers receiving $1,500.
The majority of Colorado cash-back payments were issued by the end of September 2022, with most payments distributed by January 31, 2023.
Georgia
Qualifying Georgia residents were eligible to receive tax rebates of up to $500.
The relief payments have been set up as a one-time tax credit, also known as a surplus tax refund, for individual taxpayers who filed state income tax returns for the tax years 2021 and 2022.
To qualify for the refund, Georgia residents needed to file their tax return by the April 18, 2023, deadline. However, if they received an IRS tax deadline extension, they have until Oct. 16, 2023, to file.
Another condition of receiving a tax rebate is that the individual must have had a tax liability for the 2021 tax year. Both Georgia residents, including part-year residents, and nonresidents of Georgia are potentially eligible to receive the refund.
The specific amount of the Georgia surplus tax refund for 2023 is determined by a person’s tax liability from the 2021 tax year.
Maine
Maine residents who met certain criteria had the opportunity to receive winter energy relief payments.
These payments were designed to assist individuals and couples with their energy costs during the winter season.
Eligibility requirements included filing a 2021 Maine personal income tax return as a full-time resident by Oct. 31, 2022, and not being claimed as a dependent on another person’s tax return.
Income limits were also considered, and payment amounts varied based on filing status.
The state began distributing payments in mid-January, and residents who did not receive a payment have been given the opportunity to contact the state tax assessor by June 30, 2023, to provide necessary documentation to prove their eligibility.
The state tax assessor has until Sept. 30, 2023, to issue relief payments to eligible individuals who contacted them before the deadline.
Montana
Montana residents can expect to receive one-time income tax rebate checks in 2023.
While the specific rebate amount is determined based on the information provided in each individual’s 2021 tax return, the potential maximum amount is $2,500.
To be eligible for a payment, only Montana taxpayers who filed a 2021 Montana full-year resident tax return will be considered.
In addition, Montana residents must have filed either a part-year or full-year 2020 state tax return. The tax rebate bill sets forth several qualifying criteria, which include the following:
Filing 2020 and 2021 Montana tax returns by the 2021 tax year deadline, unless an extension was granted.
Individuals claimed as dependents on a 2021 Montana or federal income tax return are ineligible for the payment.
To receive an income tax rebate payment, Line 20 of the Montana Form 2 must indicate an amount greater than zero.
In addition, eligible residents will also receive a property tax rebate from Montana. This rebate applies to the years 2022 and 2023, with a maximum amount of $675.
In order to qualify for the property tax rebate, individuals must have owned and utilized the property as their primary residence for at least seven months in each of those years.
Furthermore, they must have made property tax payments for both 2022 and 2023.
New Mexico
Eligible residents of New Mexico can expect to receive rebate checks of up to $1,000.
In the coming weeks, New Mexico will begin the distribution of one-time rebate checks for 2023 to eligible residents, who can anticipate receiving the rebates as early as mid-June.
The payment amount will be determined based on the filing status reported on 2021 tax returns.
No application is required for the rebates, which will be sent out automatically.
Eligible individuals have until May 31, 2024, to file their 2021 tax returns and qualify for the rebate.
If the filing status for the 2021 tax year was head of household, married filing jointly, or qualifying widow(er), a payment of $1,000 can be expected.
Single filers or those who filed as married filing separately will receive a payment of $500.
For those who filed as married filing jointly, the rebate payment will be sent to the primary taxpayer listed on the 2021 New Mexico state tax return.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate program provides payments to eligible individuals who meet certain criteria.
They must be at least 65 years old, a widow(er) at least 50 years old, or a person with disabilities who is at least 18 years old.
In addition, there is an annual income limit, with homeowners capped at $35,000 and renters at $15,000 (with 50 percent of Social Security benefits excluded).
The specific rebate amount is determined based on income and whether the individual owns or rents their home. Eligible homeowners, including some exceptions for older adults above the age of 65 who may receive a higher amount, can generally expect rebates of up to $650.
Rebate checks were initiated in August 2022, and eligible residents had until the end of 2022 to apply for a rebate. Consequently, payments will continue into 2023.
South Carolina
To qualify for a tax rebate in South Carolina, residents must have filed a 2021 South Carolina state income tax return by Feb. 15, 2023, and have a state tax liability for the 2021 tax year.
The rebate amount can reach up to $800 and will be determined based on an eligible individual’s 2021 South Carolina income tax liability after subtracting any applicable credits.
For tax liabilities below $800, the rebate amount will match the individual filer’s tax liability. However, if the tax liability exceeds the $800 cap, the filer will receive a rebate of $800.
Eligible filers should have received a rebate check by March 31, 2023.
Virginia
To be eligible for Virginia’s one-time stimulus tax rebate, taxpayers needed to file a 2021 Virginia income tax return by Nov. 1, 2022, and have a 2021 Virginia net tax liability.
It’s worth noting that even if a taxpayer received a refund after filing their 2021 state return, they could still qualify for a rebate. The rebate amount, with a maximum of $500, was based on a filer’s 2021 Virginia tax liability.
Those who filed their state tax return by Sept. 5, 2022, and met the eligibility requirements, should have received their payment by October 31 of 2022.
However, if taxpayers filed their return between Sept. 6 and Nov. 1, 2022, their payment would arrive within four months from the date they filed, which could have been as late as February 2023.
A sweeping fraud scheme targeting New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) resulted in the illicit withdrawal of an estimated $17 million over a span of just three days earlier this month, sources told The New York Post. The stolen funds, which were meant to compensate tens of thousands of young New Yorkers participating in the city-sponsored work initiative, instead vanished into the hands of scammers who manipulated a critical flaw in the program’s payment system.
The scam, now under active investigation by the NYPD and the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), reportedly unfolded between July 11 and July 13, with ATMs across the five boroughs being systematically drained. According to the information provided in The New York Post report, the fraud exploited NYC-issued debit cards linked to SYEP participants — cards intended to deliver modest weekly wages to teenagers and young adults for their work during the summer.
Ordinarily, these debit cards allow young workers to access several hundred dollars per week, the result of minimum-wage pay for up to 25 hours of work. But a “processing error” allowed some cards to bypass safeguards, accessing unusually high cash amounts — with single cards reportedly used to withdraw up to $40,000 from ATMs in a matter of minutes.
The New York Post reviewed social media videos, including posts on TikTok and Instagram, where individuals openly boasted about exploiting the glitch. One user filmed himself declaring, “We’re making bread, we’re printing money right now. If you work S.Y.E.P., hit me up.” Others, however, issued warnings not to fall for what they described as a dangerous scam.
Though the magnitude of the heist has alarmed city officials, DYCD spokesman Mark Zustovich emphasized to The New York Post that “no taxpayer dollars have been lost,” though it remains unclear who is ultimately absorbing the financial loss. The Post noted that the payment system used by SYEP is operated by third-party vendors, and roughly 30,000 of this year’s 100,000 program participants received pay via the NYC-issued cards rather than through direct deposit.
Zustovich stated that DYCD is “deeply disturbed by scammers preying on our participants just as they started their work assignments to support themselves and their families.” He added that the agency “quickly launched an investigation with the vendors who oversee the SYEP pay card system, to make sure our participants’ earnings are as secure as possible,” while also working to educate program members about fraud and financial security.
Details of the scam’s execution, as well as the number of cards compromised, remain under investigation. Investigators are currently attempting to trace the breach’s origin and determine whether it was an inside job, the result of external hackers, or a combination of both.
One of the vendors involved, ATM World Corp., told The New York Post via a statement also shared with ABC-7 News, that their machines were used to process dozens — sometimes hundreds — of consecutive withdrawals by a single cardholder. “There was a $200 limit per transaction, but no limit on how many one could make or how much cash one could take out,” explained ATM World CEO Youserf Mubairrez. “Sometimes it was five to 10 transactions. A few times we saw 100 to 200 transactions consecutively.”
That lapse in transaction limits may have been a key vulnerability that enabled scammers to bleed machines dry using cloned or compromised cards. While the city’s standard banking protocols should have flagged such anomalies, the lack of automatic halts or alerts appears to have given the perpetrators a significant window of opportunity.
The Summer Youth Employment Program, considered the largest publicly funded youth jobs program in the country, provides work experience, skill-building, and wages to thousands of New Yorkers between the ages of 16 and 24, many of whom come from low-income or minority communities. The New York Post report noted that participants without bank accounts have been receiving pay via debit cards since 2003, a system that has generally functioned smoothly — until now.
With public confidence shaken and participants alarmed, city officials and vendor partners face growing pressure to implement enhanced security protocols and provide restitution where appropriate. One pressing concern, according to The New York Post report, is whether any legitimate SYEP workers have had their earnings frozen or compromised as part of the investigation or amid card deactivations.
Zustovich emphasized to The Post that DYCD continues to monitor the situation closely and is committed to safeguarding participants’ wages. “Our goal,” he said, “is to ensure that young people in the program are paid promptly, securely, and fairly.”
As law enforcement delves deeper into the origins of the multimillion-dollar breach, one thing remains clear: the high-profile scam has not only exposed glaring vulnerabilities in a vital city-run program, but has also left a trail of unanswered questions that city officials are racing to resolve.
