Stimulus Check Update: New Mexico Gets $500 Tax Rebates Next Month – It seems more and more states keep getting back into the ‘stimulus check’ game, and it seems like New Mexico is joing the club. Millions of New Mexico residents should receive tax rebate checks of up to $500 as soon as next week after legislators approved House Bill 163.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement that hundreds of millions of dollars will be returned to New Mexico taxpayers to protect their paychecks and help “cope with the rising prices of gas, groceries and other household expenses.”
The first round of rebates sent to New Mexicans was issued in May and June. State residents were given $250 via direct deposit, with no strings attached. In mid-May, legislators announced that taxpayers would receive rebates via direct deposit, and an additional 200,000 taxpayers would receive paper checks.
New Are You Eligible?
This second round of payments comes with income limits, meaning not everybody is eligible for the same amount. All single filers must have earned less than $75,000 on their 2021 tax returns in order to qualify for a rebate of $250. Married couples filing their state taxes jointly and earning less than $150,000 in 2021 will be eligible for a check of $500.
The checks are already being prepared for delivery, with the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department revealing this week that paper checks will be processed and mailed as soon as next week. However, given that only so many checks can be printed and issued each day, taxpayers are advised to be patient and wait for their checks to be delivered sometime in July.
Delivering all checks to every taxpayer, as well as making all direct deposit payments, could take all month.
“We can only print about 14,000 checks per day, so it will take the full month to have those mailed out,” New Mexico Tax and Revenue Department spokesman Charlie Moore said. “We ask people to be patient and not to call asking about their rebate until we’ve had the full month [of July] to get them distributed.”
How To Get the Rebate
You do not need to take any action. All eligible taxpayers who have or will file their 2021 income taxes before May 1, 2023, will receive their rebates.
The rebates may be received via direct deposit or check, depending on how you receive your refunds or how you make your payment. As long as you meet the criteria and file your taxes, you will automatically receive the refund.
New Mexico residents who owe back taxes will also still be eligible to receive the refund, although the funds may be used to offset any liability from the 2021 tax year. If the liability is less than the money that the taxpayer owes, the remaining funds will be issued as normal.
Tax and Revenue Department spokesman Charlie Moore also said that anybody who does not have direct deposit banking information registered with the state already will receive checks automatically.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
