- Massachusetts Department of Revenue
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Robert R. Bliss
blissr@dor.state.ma.us
617-626-2369
Monthly total is $191 million above benchmark; Year-to-date collection is $70 million below benchmark
Revenue Commissioner Navjeet K. Bal today announced that preliminary revenue collections for May 2010 totaled $1.575 billion, up $292 million or 22.8 percent from last May.
Total tax collections for May were $191 million above the monthly benchmark based on the FY10 revenue estimate of $18.460 billion, but were insufficient to make up for all of the revenue loss experienced in April due to the filing deadline extension to May 11. As a result, the total year-to-date tax collections are now $70 million below the year-to-date benchmark.
"Personal income tax withholding and 2010 income tax estimated payments, as well as sales and use tax and corporate collections, which are good indicators of a continued economic turnaround, were all above benchmark. However, shortfalls for the combined April/May period in payments with 2009 returns and extensions, -- probably reflecting a decline in capital gains due to past economic performance -- caused the overall year-to-date below benchmark performance." Bal said.
FY10 year to date tax collections total $16.507 billion, up $39 million or 0.2 percent from a year ago and are $70 million below benchmark with one month remaining in FY10.
Income tax collections for May 2010 were $985 million, up $173 million from a year ago and $147 million above the monthly benchmark, reflecting, in part, the shift of income tax payments from April to May caused by the filing extension.
Withholding taxes for the month, which were not affected by the filing extension, but may have been affected by other payment-timing factors that were already reflected in the May monthly benchmark, totaled $710 million, $15 million less than a year ago and $19 million above benchmark.
May 2010 sales tax collections, which were not affected by the May 11 filing deadline extension, totaled $397 million, up $86 million or 27.7 percent (reflecting the sales tax rate increase which went into effect on August 1, 2009), $15 million above the benchmark. Regular sales tax collections of $282 million were $6 million over benchmark (but down 4.1 percent on a baseline basis, factoring out the sales tax rate increase to 6.25 percent); $66 million in meals tax collections were $4 million over benchmark and up 3.2 percent baseline while $49 million in motor vehicle sales tax collections were $4 million over benchmark and up 4.5 percent baseline.
May is not a significant month for income tax estimated payments and corporate/business tax collections, but because of the filing extension revenue from both sources was shifted from April to May. Income tax estimated payments totaled $39 million up $24 million or 165.0 percent from last year, $25 million above the monthly benchmark and for the April-May period were $22 million above benchmark. Corporate/business tax collections totaled $41 million, up $20 million or 93.8 percent from a year ago and $19 million above the monthly benchmark, largely because some retailers who normally make estimated payments in April delayed those payments until May.
Year-to-date, income tax collections total $9.089 billion, down $605 million or 6.2 percent from a year ago and $245 million below benchmark. Withholding tax collections are $173 million over benchmark, but income estimated payments and income returns with bills are a combined $414 below benchmark.
Sales and use tax collections total $4.188 billion, up $651 million or 18.4 percent from a year ago and $83 million over benchmark. Corporate/business taxes total $1.701 billion, up $22 million or 1.3 percent from a year ago and are $75 million over benchmark.
FY2010 Year-to-Date Revenue through May 31, 2010
May 2010 Tax Collection Summary (preliminary as of June 3, 2010)
