The Middle Class Tax Refund is a one-time payment to provide relief to Californians who filed their 2020 tax return by last October.
The payments will range from $400 to $1,050 for couples filing jointly and $200 to $700 for other individuals depending on income level and claimed dependents.
The state said they began sending out the money two weeks ago but the payments have been slow to roll out, said Hisham Foad, chair of the San Diego State University Department of Economics.
“The bigger problem with the delay is people might have seen this news, like ‘oh we're gonna get this money,’ and they may have changed their behavior as a result of that,” Foad said.
The state is currently in the first phase of sending out the tax refund and the next group will start receiving payments on Oct. 24.
For those who electronically filed their taxes in 2020 and received a refund by direct deposit, their payment will come via direct deposit before Nov. 14.
Other filers should expect to receive the money in the mail on a debit card as late as January 2023.
“Somebody might have moved up a purchase because they expected to get this check by the end of October. If it’s going to be delayed until November or even later, then that could potentially cause some problems,” Foad said.
Payment rollout
Direct deposit
For those who electronically filed their taxes in 2020 and received a refund by direct deposit, their payment will come via direct deposit before Nov. 14.
Debit cards
- Oct. 24 - Dec. 10: Golden State Stimulus, or GSS, recipients of 2021 are first in line to get their payment. Debit cards are being sent out in smaller batches: four groups organized in alphabetical order by last name.
- December 2022 - January 2023: Remaining eligible recipients
“But of course not everyone is getting this. You had to have filed taxes — or paid taxes rather — in order to get this relief,” Foad said. “And there's quite a few people certainly that are being strongly affected by inflation, those with really low incomes that did not pay taxes last year.”
The Franchise Tax Board expects to have issued about 8 million direct deposits and 10 million debit cards by early next year and is expected to announce more precise dates next month.
