New Mexico rebate checks: Where’s my money?
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In the week since the last round of tax rebate checks went out, New Mexicans have bombarded the state’s tax department with calls.
“We had a recent week where we received about 8,000 phone calls in just one day,” said Stephanie Schardin-Clarke, the cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Dept.
Secretary Schardin-Clarke says that’s more than three times the number of calls they normally get. Their call center consists of 20 people who have to handle that too.
If you’re getting your refund by direct deposit, you should have it by now, as most people have. If your banking information changed between now and when you filed your 2021 state income tax return, you’ll get a paper check.
“We can print and mail about 70,000 paper checks per day,” the secretary said.
Since the last round of rebate checks went out, people have hit the state's tax department with calls. Here's an update on those checks.
If you haven’t received that check, you can expect it by mid-July. So far, the department printed and mailed out more than 280,000 paper checks out of a total of 450,000 checks.
What if a wrong address or closed bank account on file prevents the postal service from reaching you?
“It would come back from the bank as undeliverable to us. Then, we would be holding that, waiting for the taxpayer to get in touch with us to receive it,” the secretary explained.
The department has to deliver a large load. However, the secretary says this round of payments should go smoothly since it’s just based on your 2021 tax returns.
She also says there are “very few” left in error and they encourage people to be patient.
“We are on time and on schedule. We expect everybody’s rebate to be received by about July 15,” Secretary Schardin-Clarke said.