Hawai’i distributes 600,000 one-time tax refunds for 2021; not too late to file

The State of Hawaiʻi has finished distributing tax refunds to all eligible taxpayers who filed their 2021 Hawaiʻi individual tax returns on time, Gov. David Ige said in a news release.

A total of 606,674 Act 115 refunds were issued, totaling $307.9 million. It includes 288,590 direct deposits and 318,084 paper checks.

Act 115 provides a one-time constitutional refund to each qualifying resident taxpayer who files an individual income tax return for the 2021 tax year.

Taxpayers received either $100 or $300 for each eligible person, depending on the taxpayers’ income, filing status and qualified exemption(s) reported on their Hawaiʻi individual income tax returns.

Qualified taxpayers who have not yet filed their 2021 Hawaiʻi individual income tax return must do so by Dec. 31, 2022, to be eligible to receive the Act 115 refund.

“I applaud the employees at the Department of Taxation, Department of Accounting and General Services, Office of Enterprise Services, and Department of Budget and Finance for their months of work on this enormous task to issue over 600,000 refunds,” Governor Ige said. “I thank the legislature for advancing my proposal to provide these refunds with the passage of Act 115 this year. I am proud to be leaving the state with a record surplus and refunds for every taxpayer.”

There are several reasons Act 115 refunds were withheld:

• The Department of Taxation mailed letters to a limited number of taxpayers, requesting additional information on their 2021 return. Refunds will be held until the information has been verified or corrected.

• More than 4,000 refunds were intercepted by the US Internal Revenue Service or external agencies such as child support payments due to outstanding debts. These taxpayers must work directly with the external agencies to address questions on the refund offsets.

• More than 2,000 refund checks that were mailed to taxpayers were returned by the postal service due to incorrect addresses. Taxpayers whose current address is different than what was stated on their 2021 tax return may email [email protected] for information on how to receive their refund.