California officials are urging residents about an upcoming deadline for pandemic-era inflation relief debit cards which are set to expire on April 30th.
The Middle Class Tax Refund (MCTR) was a one‑time state payment to Californians between October 2022 and January 2023. Payments ranging from $200 to $1,050 were issued to help ease financial burdens caused by an inflation surge and rising gas prices.
"We know it's expensive right now, and California is putting money back into your pockets to help,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in an October 2022 press release. "We're sending out refunds worth over a thousand dollars to help families pay for everything from groceries to gas."
With the MCTR program coming to a close, $400 million in unclaimed funds will be returned to the state’s general fund.
In total, $9.2 billion was issued to 32 million California taxpayers and their dependents, according to the State of California Franchise Tax Board (FTB).
Many payments were issued through direct deposits with 7.2 million Californians receiving $4 billion. However, some people were issued debit cards. Around 9.6 million debit cards were sent out with a value of $5.2 billion, 90% of which have been activated.
The FTB estimates less than half activated cards show a zero balance, though the combined value of the remaining balance is around $240 million, or less than 5% of total funds.
Cardholders are urged to spend the funds or transfer it to their banks by the deadline.
Anyone looking to replace a lost or stolen card is out of luck. April 8 was the last day to make a request in order to allow time to print and mail the cards before the deadline. FTB said it sent two reminder letters in the spring of 2023 and 2024 to those who hadn’t activated their cards.
For more information or questions regarding inflation relief debit cards, people are directed to contact the card vendor, Money Network.
