INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (ADAMS) – The first round of Indiana’s tax refund checks are being printed and should be in the mail soon.
The state auditor’s office made that announcement on Wednesday.
Taxpayers are in-line for $200 checks unless they didn’t get their earlier tax rebate from the state.
In that case, their checks will be $325 dollars. How you get paid depends on how you paid your state income taxes, when you get paid depends on when your check is printed.
State Auditor Tera Klutz’s office released the following:
State Auditor Tera Klutz, CPA confirmed the 1.7 million automatic taxpayer refund (ATR) checks are printing and the first group of checks should reach mailboxes later this week.
“We have worked tirelessly with the Governor’s team to get Hoosiers their checks, and despite the many challenges we encountered, we are pleased to get printing started,” said Auditor Klutz. “To those Hoosiers who have been patiently waiting for their check, I want to say – the wait is over! We have successfully printed the first round of checks, which eligible Hoosiers should start to see receive this weekend.”
• On June 30, 2021, when state reserves exceeded 12.5% of state budget general fund appropriations for the following year, an $1.1 billion excess reserve transfer was automatically generated. The transfer was divided equally amongst Indiana taxpayers ($125 each) and teacher pensions.
To qualify for the $125 (or $250 if filed jointly), taxpayers would have had to file an Indiana individual income tax return for 2020 with a postmark date of Jan. 3, 2022.
• In June of 2022, the state closed the books with an annual surplus of $3.9 billion, and when combined with its previous reserve balance, resulted in Indiana having over $6 billion in reserves. Governor Eric Holcomb called a legislative special session asking the General Assembly to return some of that surplus to Hoosiers.
• On August 5, 2022, Gov. Holcomb signed Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 2 to provide a second ATR of $200 for any individual who qualified for the first refund of $125.
How taxpayers receive their $125 and $200 refunds will depend on how they filed their 2021 individual income tax return with the Department. If taxpayers listed direct deposit (checking or savings account) information on their 2021 Indiana income tax refund, they should have already received their $125 direct deposit. If they have not received a direct deposit, they will receive a combined check from the Auditor of State for $325 (or $650 if filed jointly).
“Like many industries, state government was not spared the headaches that come from dealing with a shortage – in our case, a paper shortage,” said Auditor Klutz. “We typically don’t print this many checks at one time, which created the challenge of locating the amount of paper required to print the 1.7 million checks needed.
“Luckily, this challenge became a ‘blessing in disguise’ since the paper arrived within days of SEA 2 becoming law, enabling us to send Hoosiers one check instead of two which saves the State an additional $1 million in processing, printing and postage costs.”
With roughly 50,000 checks printed each day, Auditor Klutz anticipates all 1.7 million refund checks being mailed by early October.
ORIGINAL STORY:
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (ADAMS) – Taxpayer refund checks could start reaching Hoosier mailboxes by next week.
The checks will include the $125 automatic taxpayer refund approved by Governor Holcomb and the $200 approved during the special legislative session.
The initial checks were delayed several weeks due to a paper shortage.
The state is working to have all checks printed by early October.
Read more here