Press Release  July Revenue Collections Total $2.252 Billion

Boston, MA — Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder today announced that preliminary revenue collections for July totaled $2.252 billion, $110 million or 5.1% more than the actual collections in July 2020.

“July revenue included increases relative to July 2020 collections in sales tax, non-withheld income tax, and the ‘all other taxes’ category, and decreases in withholding and corporate and business taxes,” said Commissioner Snyder. “The decrease in withholding tax was the result of typical periodic fluctuations, while corporate and business taxes decreased compared to July 2020 due to the unusually high collections in that month as a result of the deferral of the income tax return and payment deadline and the waiver of penalties for corporate excise returns and payments.”

July is one of the smaller tax collection months because no quarterly estimated payments are due for most individuals and businesses. Historically, roughly 6.7% of annual revenue, on average, has been received during July.

Given the brief period covered in the report, July results should not be used as a predictor for the rest of the fiscal year. With the recent enactment of the Fiscal Year 2022 budget, monthly revenue benchmarks are currently under development and will be incorporated into future revenue reports.

Details:

• Income tax collections totaled $1.164 billion, $25 million or 2.2% more than July 2020.
• Withholding tax totaled $1.096 billion, $35 million or 3.1% less than July 2020.
• Income tax estimated payments totaled $42 million, $42 million more than July 2020.
• Income returns and bills totaled $46 million, up $31 million from July 2020. • Income cash refunds totaled $20 million in outflows, $13 million more than July 2020.
• Sales and use tax totaled $728 million, $113 million or 18.4% more than July 2020. By subcategory:
  — Regular sales tax totaled $543 million, $69 million or 14.7% more than July 2020
  — Meals tax totaled $107 million, $42 million or 65.7% more than July 2020
  — Motor vehicle sales tax totaled $79 million, $1 million or 1.7% more than July 2020
• Corporate and business tax totaled $152 million, $52 million or 25.4% less than July 2020.
• All other tax totaled $208 million, $24 million or 12.8% more than July 2020.

July 2021 Tax Collections Summary (in $ millions) Preliminary as of August 4, 2021

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