Thousands of Minnesota residents will soon receive rebate checks of $260. These $260 tax rebate checks from Minnesota are not new; rather, the state Department of Revenue is reissuing checks that went uncashed and expired since they were originally sent last year. Minnesota’s Department of Revenue will start reissuing the checks starting next week.
$260 tax rebate checks from Minnesota: who will get them?
On Thursday, the state Department of Revenue announced that it will be reissuing more than 128,000 $260 tax rebate checks from Minnesota. The department said it will start reissuing the checks next week and expects the process to be completed by mid-March.
Minnesota originally sent the rebate check last year, but not all checks were cashed within the 60-day validity. Also, many recipients overlooked or threw away the original checks, thinking they were junk mail, as a company in Montana mailed out the original checks.
The new checks, however, will come from the State of Minnesota. If the reissued checks remain unclaimed, they will be transferred to the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s Unclaimed Property Division.
To qualify for the rebate check, a taxpayer needs to meet income and other requirements, including being a Minnesota resident for part or all of 2021. If a taxpayer lived in the state for only part of the year, the rebate amount will be prorated depending on the time they lived there.
Those claimed as a dependent by someone else on their 2021 Minnesota income tax return, or those who died before Jan. 1, 2023, won’t qualify for the rebate.
If you believe you qualify for the rebate check but don’t get it by May 1, it is recommended that you contact the State Department of Revenue at 651-556-300.
Rebate checks are federally taxable
Minnesota’s tax rebate check, costing about $1 billion, was part of the legislation that Gov. Tim Walz signed into law in May last year. The legislation returns some of the projected $17.6 billion budget surplus to taxpayers.
Those with adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less ($150,000 or less for married couples filing jointly) qualify for a rebate check of $260. Eligible families also qualify for $260 per dependent (up to three). So, the maximum a family could receive in tax rebate checks is $1,300.
The $260 tax rebate checks from Minnesota won’t be taxable on the state income tax return but will be federally taxable. Recipients will receive a Form 1099-MISC to help them file their 2023 income taxes.
According to the IRS, the rebate checks didn’t qualify as pandemic aid, and thus, will be federally taxable. The IRS said the federal pandemic emergency declaration ended on May 11, 2023, and the Minnesota governor signed the $260 rebate bill into law on May 23.
In response to the IRS’ decision to tax the rebate checks, Gov. Walz said he is “deeply disappointed” and that “Minnesota is being treated unfairly in this.”
