NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – As gas prices continue to rise, many are still waiting on the checks the state said that they would send to help new Mexicans. Many are asking when they will get that assistance. The Taxation and Revenue Department says that they have received close to 8,000 calls in one day from people asking when they will receive their checks. They say just to give them a little more time.
Close to 40,000 people are still waiting on the rebate that the governor and legislature signed off on earlier this year. Stephanie Schardin Clarke, Secretary of the Taxation and Revenue Department for the state of New Mexico, said, “We’ve issued about 183,000 paper checks. But we have about 39,000 more to go. And we can issue about 14,000 checks per day. That’s just our printing and mailing capacity. So we have several business days left to go until we’re sort of caught up.”
Since House Bill 2 was signed by the governor for $700 million, the tax and revenue department say that 730,000 people have received their first wave of checks. 547,000 of them were people who completed their taxes for last year with direct deposit.
There are a number of others who have not received anything. That’s due in part to either late filers, or those who did not file taxes last year and had to complete a separate application.
The state says they the applications are closed, with as many as 30,000 people qualifying for those rebates. “As of yesterday, we believe that we’ve hit the cap on that $20 million, which was allocated to go out on a first come first serve basis. So HSD is maybe still taking applications for another couple of days. But I do think that that funding source is about tapped out,” said Secretary Schardin Clarke
Single filers can expect $500 total in two payments, and couples will get $1,000 split between two checks. That next wave of checks should be sent in August.
