By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- What the state giveth, the federal government taketh away.
Qualifying Arizona families have gotten deposits of up to $750 in their bank accounts. That's all because of a rebate plan demanded by some Republican lawmakers last year as part of a budget deal.
But here's the thing.
The state Department of Revenue said Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Services has informed it that those funds are subject to federal income taxes. That means recipients will have to give back some of what they just got when they file their 2023 tax returns later this year.
How much?
Well, that depends on a variety of factors.
It starts with how much someone got.
The deal inserted into the budget by the Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, provided a one-time tax credit of $250 for each child younger than 17, and $100 for dependents 17 and older -- with no age limit -- though the number of credits is limited to three dependents. About 750,000 families were eligible.
Then there's the federal tax bracket.
There are seven brackets, ranging from 10% for individuals with a federally adjusted gross income of up to $11,000 -- double that for married couples filing jointly -- to 37% for those making $578,126 or more.
So, everything else being equal, someone getting a $500 rebate in the 22% bracket -- from $44,726 to $95,375 for individuals -- would be giving back $110 to Uncle Sam.
It all starts with a 1099-MISC the state is issuing to those who got either the direct deposits or the checks with the amount of the rebate.
Ignoring it when doing your 2023 taxes may not be a realistic option.
A copy of that form goes to the Internal Revenue Service. So not including the amount on the 2023 tax returns due in April could result in some unwelcome correspondence from the feds.
One complicating issue for some taxpayers is that the Department of Revenue is not actually mailing out those forms. Instead, taxpayers who got a rebate will have to either go on the agency's web site or check their bank statements to figure out how much to report.
And for those who may lack computer savvy?
Agency spokeswoman Rebecca Wilder said they can contact the Department of Revenue directly to get the information.
While the IRS wants its cut, the one bit of good news is that the state isn't planning to claw back a share: The budget plan that includes the rebate specifically exempted the proceeds from state taxes.
That, however, will require taxpayers to do an extra calculation.
State tax returns all start with the federal adjusted gross income. And that will include the rebate dollars.
So recipients will have to deduct those dollars when coming up with their state adjusted gross income, the amount against which the state income tax is computed.
Republican lawmakers are not reacting well to the IRS determination, with Senate President Warren Petersen calling it another example of how the Biden administration sowing "how little they care about Arizona families who are struggling to make ends meet.''
But, politics aside, Petersen said there's a legal issue.
"More than a dozen states issued similar payments to their citizens in 2022 that the IRS determined would be excluded from federal income tax,'' he said. Petersen said he wants the Department of Revenue and Attorney General "to fight this attack on Arizona families from the money hungry federal government.''
Not everyone with dependents got the rebate.
Only those who claimed a dependent tax credit on their 2021 full-year Arizona resident individual income tax returns were eligible. And they also would have had to have paid at least $1 of Arizona individuals income tax on that 2021 return or paid at least $1 in 2019 or 2020 under the same filing status as their 2021 return.
What that means is that someone who claimed a dependent in either 2019 or 2020 but not in 2021 because the child had left home is ineligible.
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