Still no Middle Class Tax Refund? Payments expected to be issued by end of January

The final payments for the Middle Class Tax Refund were supposed to have been mailed out before the end of 2022, but hundreds of thousands of qualified taxpayers have yet to receive any indication of where their refund is.

The Middle Class Tax Refund is for single taxpayers making $250,000 or less a year, heads of household making $500,000 or less a year, and couples filing jointly making $500,000 or less a year.

To receive the payout, taxpayers must meet the following qualifications:

• Filed a 2020 tax return before Oct. 15, 2021,
• Were not eligible to be claimed as a dependent in the 2020 tax year,
• Were a California resident for six months or more of the 2020 tax year,
• Were a California resident on the date the payment was issued.

Julia Vasquez, 56, lives with her husband and two teenage boys. She and her husband file jointly using the online tax platform TurboTax and opted to receive their return via direct deposit. She should have received her payment in November.

“I keep questioning myself like, I think we qualify, and then I went through all the questions you answer online and yeah we do,” she said. “We have two kids, two dependents, so I don’t know, it’s weird.”

According to an information page dedicated to the Middle Class Tax Refund, just over seven million direct deposit refunds and nine million debit card refunds have been issued to California residents, totaling nearly $9 billion.

A statement on the page says 90% of direct deposit payments were expected to be issued in October 2022 with 95% of all payments, both direct deposit and debit card, issued by the end of 2022.

An emailed statement from the California Franchise Tax Board said there are a handful of reasons why Californians have not received their payment yet.

The statement said an initial batch of direct deposits were issued by Nov. 14, 2022. However, some required “additional review and were, or will be, issued later.”

Taxpayers who changed addresses or bank account information after filing their 2020 returns are in that group as well.

“We anticipate that an additional 460,000 direct deposit payments will be issued this week,” the email said, adding that direct deposits are disbursed within three to five business days from the issue date and can vary by banking institution.

“It’s possible a relatively small number of direct deposits will be made after next week, but the vast majority will have been issued by then.”

Those who expect to receive their refund as a debit card might have been in the final mailing group, the email said, which could have an issue date as late as the end of January.

The Franchise Tax Board said recipients should allow up to two weeks from the issue date to receive the card from the Money Network with a return address of Omaha, Nebraska, by mail.

“Some payments, whether direct deposit or debit card, require additional review and that can extend the timing of when the taxpayer will receive their payment,” the Tax Board said. “However, we anticipate that the vast majority of all debit cards will be issued this month.”

The Tax Board said in an email that qualifying taxpayers should either call the Money Network, 800-240-0223, the company issuing refunds by debit card, or wait until Jan. 31.

Those awaiting direct deposits should call the Franchise Tax Board customer service line to verify eligibility or check the status if they haven’t received it by Jan. 31.

You can reach Staff Writer Sara Edwards at 707-521-5487 or sara.edwards@pressdemocrat. com. On Twitter @sedwards380.