With the holiday season just around the corner, hundreds of thousands of families in New York State are still checking their mailboxes with anticipation: approximately 600,000 inflation tax refund checks have not yet been sent by the state’s Tax Department, according to the most recent figures provided by Governor Kathy Hochul’s office.
The program, which marks the first initiative of its kind in the state’s history, plans to distribute a total of 8.2 million tax refund checks to eligible households. So far, approximately 7.6 million -that means that over 92%- are already on their way or in the hands of taxpayers.
The remaining mailings will be concentrated primarily in late November and early December, prioritizing those who filed their 2023 tax returns later, including those with extensions through October 2025.
NY inflation refund checks: Where does the money come from?
These refunds are not a new tax or a loan: they come directly from the surplus in sales tax revenue generated by inflation in recent years. As prices for goods and services rose, the state collected billions of dollars in extra sales tax revenue without having raised tax rates.
Governor Hochul defended the measure as a way to “give back to those who really earned it”: working families in New York. The total cost of the program is around$3 billion, included in the 2025-2026 state budget.
How much money does each household receive?
The amount is not the same for everyone and depends on the adjusted gross income (AGI) reported on the 2023 tax return and marital status:
| Marital status | Annual income ≤ $75,000 | Income $75,001 – $150,000 | Income $150,001 – $300,000 |
| Single / Head of household | $300 | $150 | Not eligible |
| Married couple declaring jointly | $400 | $300 | $150 |
To be eligible, you also had to have been a full-time resident in New York throughout 2023, have filed Form IT-201, and not have been declared as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.
Why haven’t some received it yet?
The Tax Department processes refunds in waves based on the date the 2023 tax return was received and validated. Those who filed early (February-April 2024) received their checks in October.
Furthermore, those who filed later with an extension or on paper are now at the back of the line. “It’s not by zip code or alphabetical order, it’s strictly chronological,” a department spokesperson explained.
If you qualify and haven’t received your check yet, don’t worry: it will arrive by regular mail (not direct deposit) before the end of the year. However, keep an eye on your mailbox and beware of scams: the government never calls or sends text messages asking for bank details in exchange for a refund.
