Hawaiʻi residents to start receiving tax refunds next week

Governor David Ige today announced that taxpayers will start receiving their state tax refunds next week. Currently, about 600,000 Hawaiʻi taxpayers are scheduled to receive approximately $294 million in tax refunds.

Taxpayers who filed individual income tax returns for 2021 and have been residents of Hawaiʻi for at least nine months are eligible for the refund.

• Taxpayers who earn less than $100,000/year, or couples earning less than $200,000/year will receive $300 each (including dependents, so a family of four would receive $1,200).

• Taxpayers who earn $100,000 or more, or couples earning $200,000 or more will receive $100 each (including dependents).

“The Constitution requires that if the carryover balance in two consecutive years exceeds 5%, that the state legislature would either have to provide a refund to the taxpayers, or they could make a deposit into the Rainy Day Fund. That’s the options that they would have,” said Gov. Ige.

“Our financial guidelines has us projecting for a carryover balance of 10%–is what we build our financial plan to,” said Gov. Ige during an afternoon press conference. “Obviously the legislature is making appropriations decisions, and whatever the legislature passes is what drives how we would deal with that; but I do anticipate that next year, the legislature would have to either provide another rebate, or make a deposit to the Rainy Day Fund in order to comply with the constitutional requirement.”

“It is my hope that the $300 million in tax refunds being distributed so far, bring some relief to the hardworking people of the State of Hawaiʻi who were hit hard by the pandemic,” said Gov. Ige.

“This particular rebate amount is for the last fiscal year, so it has already been accounted for,” said Isaac Choy, director of the state Department of Taxation.

Governor David Ige said he anticipates the Council on Revenues will be looking at financial forecasts, but he said right now, the state’s financial plan is unchanged, noting that the state “is in sound financial condition.”

In the first round of refund distributions, 100,000 taxpayers will receive their refunds through either direct deposit or by mail on or about Sept. 12. The Department of Taxation says two additional distribution dates are scheduled for Sept. 9 and Sept. 13, which should complete the bulk of direct deposit refunds.

Paper check refunds will be made in batches of 2,000 until additional check stock arrives. Once the check stock is received, paper refunds will increase to 90,000 per week.

Taxpayers receiving refund checks by mail and who filed their tax returns by July 31, should receive their refunds by the end of October. Again, this is dependent on the arrival of check stock. Refunds for taxpayers who filed their returns after July 31, will be issued up to 10 weeks after acceptance the DOTAX.

Taxpayers who requested an electronic direct deposit will receive their refund through the same bank account. Taxpayers who requested a paper check refund or owed additional taxes, will receive their refund by paper check. Taxpayers may not change the method of refund.

In all – there are 303,000 direct deposit refunds and 295,000 paper refunds scheduled to be distributed so far. Eligible taxpayers must file their 2021 tax returns by Dec. 31 of this year to qualify for this tax refund.

*Maui Now’s Wendy Osher contributed to this report.