- Massachusetts Department of Revenue
Nicole St. Peter Mac Dermott
(617) 626-2805
stpetermacdn@dor.state.ma.us
(Boston, MA) - Revenue Commissioner Michael J. Heffernan today announced that preliminary revenue collections for May totaled $1.868 billion, $34 million or 1.8 percent more than the state took in last May, due mainly to payments collected during the Amnesty program.
“May revenue collections continue to reflect the trends we saw last month with lower than expected payments with returns and higher than expected income cash refunds, as well as a shift in withholding from May to April,” said Commissioner Heffernan. “It appears that most of the adjustments being made to estimated payments due to the volatile stock market have leveled off at this point. We continue to have confidence in the state’s economy as overall sales tax and income withholding revenues remain healthy.”
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May is normally a small tax collection month, as there are no quarterly estimated payments due for most corporate and business taxpayers or individuals, and the filing season is winding down.
The two-month tax amnesty program came to an end on May 31, and $112 million has been collected since April 1. The Department anticipates additional minor amnesty revenues to be counted in the June revenue totals. The budget assumed a $100 million amnesty target for the program.
With one month remaining in the current fiscal year, year-to-date revenues total $22.661 billion, $417 million or 1.9 percent more than last year at this time. Excluding the $26.9 million in one-time tax settlements received year-to-date, tax collections totaled $22.634 billion, $573 million or 2.6 percent above last year at this time but $311 million below the year-to-date benchmark.
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*For the purpose of this revenue release and going forward in Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16), the “benchmark” refers to the new benchmark, revised and released in January 2016.
FY2016 Year-to-Date Tax Revenue Through May, 2016
May 2016 Tax Collection Summary (in $ millions) (Preliminary as of June 3, 2016)