- Massachusetts Department of Revenue
Monday, November 1, 2010
Robert R. Bliss
blissr@dor.state.ma.us
617-626-2369
October revenues are $209 million above benchmark and $413 million above year-to-date benchmark
Revenue Commissioner Navjeet K. Bal today announced that preliminary revenue collections for October 2010 totaled $1.342 billion, up $117 million or 9.5 percent from a year ago, exceeding the monthly benchmark by $209 million and the year-to-date benchmark by $413 million
"While October is considered a relatively small net tax collection month because no quarterly estimated payments are due for individuals and most non-retailing corporations, collections ran well above benchmark due to strong withholding and corporate/business collections, and to a lesser extent, stronger than expected sales tax collections," Bal said. "These are all signs of a strengthening economy and a return to fiscal stability."
The October benchmark corresponding to the FY11 estimate of $19.078 billion had assumed a revenue collection of $1.132 billion, a decrease of $92 million from the October 2009 collections, due in part to a one-time settlement payment of $66 million received last October as well as the anticipated taking of tax credits.
Income tax collections in October 2010 totaled $737 million, $86 million or 13.3 percent higher than a year ago and were $58 million above benchmark. Income withholding was $65 million or 9.7 percent higher than a year ago and was $43 million above benchmark, while refunds of $83 million were $33 million or 28.1 percent lower than a year ago and $25 million below benchmark.
Sales tax collections for October totaled $415 million, up $12 million or 2.9 percent from the same period a year ago and $7 million over benchmark.
Corporate/business tax collections of $49 million were $35 million or 246.6 percent higher than a year ago and were $145 million above benchmark. Among the reasons for this performance: receipt of a one-time amended returns payment of $46 million; $45 million in tax credits that were not claimed as expected; and lower than expected refund payments that could partly materialize in coming months. Corporate excise tax payments were $97 million greater than a year ago.
Year-to-date, income tax collections of $3.305 billion are $248 million or 8.1 percent higher than a year ago and $117 million over benchmark. Year-to-date sales tax collections of $1.688 billion are $216 million or 14.6 percent higher than a year ago and $22 million over benchmark. Year-to-date corporate/business tax collections of $528 million are $87 million or 19.8 percent higher than a year ago and are $276 million over benchmark.
The total tax collection for the first four months of FY11 is $6.095 billion, up $557 million or 10.1 percent from a year ago and $413 million over benchmark.
FY2011 Year-to-Date Tax Revenue through October 31, 2010
October 2010 Tax Collection Summary (preliminary as of November 1, 2010)
