- Massachusetts Department of Revenue
April 1, 2004
Tim Connolly
(617) 626-2369
Revenue Commissioner Alan LeBovidge today announced revenue collections for March totaled $1.369 billion, a decrease of $23 million or 1.6 percent below last March. Year-to-date revenue collections totaled $11.152 billion, an increase of $456 million or 4.3 percent.
Receipts for March were $9 million below the benchmark. Year-to-date revenues were $143 million above the consensus benchmark that was revised in January.
"In March we were actually the victims of our own success," LeBovidge said. "Improved processing of tax returns and a greater use of electronic filing by taxpayers have led to unprecedented acceleration in refunds. While the commonwealth's bottom line is slightly below expectations for the month, the money is where it belongs -- in the taxpayers' wallets."
DOR processed 165,000 more personal income tax refunds last month than it did in March 2003 and about 100,000 more than was assumed in the monthly benchmark. This reduced revenues by $39 million. The faster processing will not affect the total number of refunds or the total amount of money refunded for the year.
"Unfortunately, withholding was below the estimate for the month and sales and use tax just met the benchmark," LeBovidge said.
Income tax collections for March totaled $399 million, a decrease of $62 million or 13.4 percent from last March. Withholding tax collections totaled $612 million, an increase of $1 million or 0.1 percent. Sales and use tax collections were $281 million, up $8 million or 2.9 percent. Corporate and business tax collections in March were $566 million, an increase of $29 million or 5.3 percent over last March.
Year-to-date income tax collections were $5.965 billion, an increase of $298 million over last year at this time. Year-to-date withholding tax collections were $5.588 billion, up $185 million or 3.4 percent over last year. Sales and use tax collections for the first nine months of fiscal 2004 were $2.767 billion, down $5 million or 0.2 percent from the same period in fiscal '03. Year-to-date corporate and business tax collections were $1.198 billion, up 201 million or 20.1 percent over last year at this time.
Monthly Revenue Report (PDF) (through March 31, 2004)
Monthly revenue, fiscal year-to-date revenue and actual tax collections.
