Happy days are here again, well sort of.
Controller Chiang said the tax refund checks, cash grants for needy families and the elderly, blind and disabled, and grants for college students can be resumed now that the new state budget is replenishing state coffers. Our governor signed the bill last month that includes billions of dollars in tax hikes and service cuts (yuck).
Even with the new budget in place, it is appearing that there isn’t enough money to cover all the refund checks out now. State officials say they will need to borrow $1.5 billion dollars to make it through tax season. That loan would be repaid later in the current fiscal year. Perhaps our Governor and the State legislatures would like to loan us that money?
Chiang had suspended $2.8 billion in payments, including $1.96 billion in personal income tax refunds and $181 million in Bank and Corporation tax refunds.
“California owes a great debt of gratitude to those who went without payments,” Chiang said in a statement. He said if the state had continued sending checks during the cash crunch, it would have triggered “a massive default . . . that would have haunted Californians for generations to come.”
Payments that were due in February began going out Friday. Officials at the controller’s office said it will take a week or two to send all of the suspended checks. Refunds processed in March will be sent without delay.
The cash shortage had also prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to order most state workers to take two Fridays off per month without pay, forcing many state offices to close on those days. Friday was the last day that order was to be in place. That means state officials will be working. So we can start scheduling those Department of Motor Vehicles appointments on Fridays again? Hooray and honk honk beep beep.
Under an agreement negotiated between the administration and labor leaders, government workers will now be forced to take only one day off per month without pay and will choose the day. That seems fair since a lot of us have had our hours cut and are down to four day work weeks as well. It beats losing one’s job entirely. And one day a month off is better than 4-5 days off in terms of making money in these hard times.
So if you have already filed and are waiting for your refund, feel free to post here and let us know when you filed and when you get your refund.
Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!
If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below. Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime. Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.
Kim Isaac Greenblatt
California To Start Issuing Refunds – Hooray, Sort Of
Tags: Business, California, refund, taxes
I filed my taxes on Jan 7th, It was processed on Jan 23rd…… Hopefully I get my money this week. Nothing yet……. *sigh*
Ash,
I think everybody is waiting for this week as well.
Kim
I filed on Feb. 4th, it was accepted by the state the same day (I filed with TurboTax.com). I haven’t heard anything yet. I wish there were some sort of chart that told us how they are processing the returns, is it by SSN or by date accepted? Due to this wonderful economy I’ve been laid off a month already and really need this money to make it through the next month if I can’t find employment.
Jess,
The Franchise Tax Board doesn’t work like the Fed with standard chart processing times. It is first in, first out. You probably will get the money sometime this week based on what the FTB is saying after they get all the backlogged late January 09 returns out. Please post if you get it and good luck to you!
Good luck to all of us.
Kim Greenblatt
Filed 1/31….no auto deposit yet. I have friends who filed 1/24 & 1/26…they too are still waiting.
***UPDATE***
I checked the status of my return today on the FTB website and got a different message. It read:
“Your refund was authorized on Saturday, March 14, 2009.
If you filed a paper return, please allow 25 business days from this date to receive your refund. If you filed your return electronically, please allow 10 business days from this date to receive your refund. If we make any adjustments to your tax return, we will notify you.”
So, 10 BUSINESS days from the 14th is March 27th. Hopefully I will wake up and check my bank account and find the refund there. That would make the 27th an even better day (I also have an ultrasound scheduled to determine if we are having a boy or girl! I’ll be exactly 20 weeks pregnant on that day!!!)
So keep your fingers crossed for me and if I get any further info I will keep you guys updated.
Jess
Hello,
I also files my taxs on feb. 4, and I am still waiting it does say it was auth. on 3-13-09 and I check every day and still nothing. I would of thought 3-20-09 what does auth. mean anyway you would think they would transfer the money by know. I wish they were so understand when we could not pay.
Paula,
I would wait another week and check. They are behind but as I stated in a recent blog entry, they finally got to releasing mine. Good luck!
Sincerely,
Kim Greenblatt
I checked my account today out of the slim chance that I would have gotten my return and BINGO! There it was!!! It was deposited yesterday but won’t actually be reflected in my balance until Monday. This just makes my weekend! I can actually go buy groceries now!!!
Good luck to you all and hopefully you get yours soon!
Jess
Wow, not to shabby Jess. My refund was authorized on Jan. 24th for electronic deposit and I still haven’t seen anything. Sigh…Great information on this site! Thanks alot, here’s hoping for next week?