Did You Get State Stimulus? IRS Says Tax Refund Might Require Amended Return

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It’s T-minus four days until individual income tax returns for U.S. citizens and residents are due. If you are one of those super-efficient individuals who have already filed their return, you might have to take one more step before laying tax-year 2022 to rest. Early filers who reported certain state stimulus or relief payments as income on their 2022 federal income tax return paid too much tax. The IRS does not consider certain such payments to be taxable income, so if you claimed them on a return you’ve already filed, the IRS says you should file an amended return to have your overpayment refunded.

In a press release issued Feb. 10, the IRS clarified the tax status of special state-administered payments to millions of residents in 21 states, determining “that in the interest of sound tax administration and other factors, taxpayers in many states will not need to report these payments on their 2022 tax returns.”

Taxpayers in 17 states will not have to report 2022 “general welfare and disaster relief” payments on their tax returns. Here is a list of those states and the payments that won’t be taxed:

• Alaska: Energy Relief Payment (supplementing the Permanent Fund Dividend)
• California: Middle Class Tax Refund
• Colorado: Colorado Cash Back
• Connecticut: Child Tax Rebate
• Delaware: Relief Rebate Program
• Florida: Pandemic Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
• Hawaii: Act 115 Refund
• Idaho: 2022 Tax Rebate
• Illinois: Individual Income Tax Rebate
• Indiana: Automatic Taxpayer Refund #1 and #2
• Maine: Pandemic Relief Payments
• New Jersey: ITIN Holders Director Assistance Program
• New Mexico: Multiple rebate and relief programs
• New York: Supplemental Child Credit and Supplemental Earned Income Tax Credit
• Oregon: One-Time Assistance Payments
• Pennsylvania: One-Time Bonus Rebates
• Rhode Island: 2022 Child Tax Rebates

Residents of the following states who received a state tax refund and either claimed a standard deduction or itemized deductions but didn’t receive a tax benefit — because of the $10,000 deduction limit, for example — will have the payments excluded from their taxable income, the IRS said.

• Georgia
• Massachusetts
• South Carolina
• Virginia

Filers considering submitting an amended tax return can do so electronically and opt for direct deposit for any refund if they filed their original 2022 return online. Paper filing is still an option for submitting the amended return Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. If you choose this return route, you will receive any refund due as a paper check in the mail.

According to the IRS, an amended return can take three weeks to show up in its system and 16 weeks to process.

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