ATLANTA — Everyone could always use a few extra dollars - and, thanks to the state of Georgia's budget surplus, taxpayers who qualify will get between $250-$500 payments in a new round of tax refunds.
Who does qualify, though, is subject to certain factors.
One 11Alive viewer wondered - what if you filed, but hadn't paid the state anything in taxes?
There are some forms of income that are excluded (up to a point) from state taxes, for instance. If you were living entirely on excluded income, and did not pay any state taxes, would you still get a surplus payment?
11Alive's Jerry Carnes looked into the details.
Question
Did you have to pay Georgia state taxes to be eligible for a surplus payment?
Our sources
Answer
Yes, you have to have paid state taxes to be eligible for the surplus payments.
What we found
Here's how it works: First, you have to have filed state tax returns for the 2021 and 2022 tax years (so, the tax return you filed last year for 2021 and the one you file this year for 2022).
Then to qualify for the surplus payments, you have to have paid something to the state in taxable income.
If you filed your Georgia state taxes but did not pay anything - for instance, you live solely on an exempt military retirement income - then you won't be eligible for these payments.
Something else to keep in mind - it's the 2021 return that determines how you get a check from the state with this round of payments.
Let's say you worked full-time in 2022, but only part-time or irregularly, or even not at all, in 2021 and didn't have much taxable income - and you paid a low amount, let's say $75.
Then the most you'll get back on these payments is $75, even if you paid more in 2022 and even though the full eligible payment for a single filer under this program is $250.
So maybe you're a teenager who worked odd jobs in 2021 and only paid a little bit in state tax before you worked full-time in 2022 - it's the 2021 figure that you paid to the state that will determine your refund payment.
Speaking of working teens - one new element with the latest round of payments is that in the past, if you were claimed as a dependent you were ineligible for a payment. That's not the case this year - young people claimed on their parents' returns are eligible as long as they did work and filed their own return.
So we can verify that yes, it's true, your 2021 return needs to show that you paid state taxes in order to qualify. And how much you paid could impact how much you get.