Press Release  March Revenue Collections Total $3.858 Billion

Boston, MA — Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder today announced that preliminary revenue collections for March 2022 totaled $3.858 billion, which is $802 million or 26.2% more than actual collections in March 2021, and $427 million or 12.5% more than benchmark.[1] March 2022 revenue collections were impacted by the recently enacted elective pass-through entity excise (PTE excise). Most of the impact on collections associated with the PTE excise is temporary. After adjusting for PTE excise, March 2022 collections are $423 million or 13.8% above actual collections in March 2021, and $455 million or 15.1% more than benchmark.

FY2022 year-to-date collections totaled approximately $27.545 billion, which is $4.961 billion or 22.0% more than collections in the same period of FY2021, and $2.184 billion or 8.6% more than the year-to-date benchmark. After adjusting for PTE excise, FY2022 year-to-date collections are $3.324 billion or 14.7% more than collections in the same period of FY2021 and $1.515 billion or 6.2% more than the year-to-date benchmark.

“March collections increased in most major tax types in comparison to March 2021 collections and the March 2022 monthly benchmark, including increases in withholding, non-withholding, sales and use tax, and corporate and business tax”. “All other” tax, which includes several tax categories, decreased relative to March 2021 collections but increased relative to the March 2022 benchmark”, said Commissioner Snyder. “The increase in withholding in comparison to March 2021 collections is likely related to labor market conditions while the increase in non-withholding tax collections is mostly due to an increase in income return payments. The sales and use tax increase reflects continued strength in retail sales, which in turn was impacted by rising inflation. The decrease in the ‘all other’ tax category is attributable to estate tax, a category that tends to fluctuate.”

March is a mid-size month for revenue collections, ranking sixth of the 12 months in eight of the last 10 years. While many corporate and business taxpayers are required to make estimated payments in March, tax filing season is underway, resulting in March typically being a significant month for refund payments (outflows), which reduce total net revenue.

Given the brief period covered in the report and the impact of PTE excise payments, March and year-to-date results should not be used as predictors for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Details:

• Income tax collections for March were $1.813 billion, $171 million or 10.4% above benchmark, and $553 million or 43.9% more than March 2021. After adjusting for PTE excise, income tax collections for March 2022 are $199 million or 16.1% above benchmark, and $174 million or 13.8% more than March 2021.
• Withholding tax collections for March totaled $1.604 billion, $113 million or 7.6% above benchmark, and $122 million or 8.2% more than March 2021.
• Income tax estimated payments totaled $103 million for March, $20 million or 23.6% more than benchmark, and $77 million or 303.4% more than March 2021.
• Income tax returns and bills totaled $534 million for March, $3.2 million or 0.6% more than benchmark, and $383 million or 252.8% more than March 2021.
• Income tax cash refunds in March totaled $428 million in outflows, $35 million or 7.6% below benchmark, but $29 million or 7.2% more than March 2021.
• Sales and use tax collections for March totaled $668 million, $124 million or 22.9% above benchmark, and $111 million or 20.0% more than March 2021. 
• Meals tax collections, a sub-set of sales and use tax, totaled $106 million, $32 million or 43.0% above benchmark, and $39 million or 58.3% more than March 2021.
• Corporate and business tax collections for the month totaled $1.191 billion, $125 million or 11.7% above benchmark, and $166 million or 16.2% more than March 2021.
• “All other” tax collections for March totaled $186 million, $7 million or 3.8% above benchmark, but $29 million or 13.5% less than March 2021.

March 2022 Tax Collections Summary (in $ millions) Preliminary as of April 5, 2022 

Footnotes

[1]

With the enactment of the FY2022 budget, monthly revenue benchmarks were developed for the August 2021 through June 2022 period only. In December 2021, monthly benchmarks from December 2021 through June 2022 were further modified to reflect the impact of the recently enacted pass-through entity excise (PTE excise) and the impact of taxation of non-residents. On January 14, 2022, the Secretary of Administration and Finance announced a revised tax revenue estimate of $35.9 billion for FY2022, an increase of $1.5 billion from the prior estimate of $34.4 billion. This revision is based on recent revenue performance and improved economic data. The revised FY2022 benchmark estimate of $35.9 billion represents July 2021 through December 2021 actual collections, adjusted for PTE excise collections, and forecasted collections for the months of January 2022 through June 2022.

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