Inflation relief checks will start rolling out next week: State Auditor

INDIANA — INDIANAPOLIS — The new inflation relief bill signed into law by Governor Eric Holcomb pushed for $200 to be returned to every Hoosier who qualifies.

The State Auditor says checks will start rolling out next week.

For those who haven't received the first $125 refund yet, it will be combined with the $200.

If you are married and filed jointly, $650 dollars is headed your way.

"It's 1.7 million checks and we're printing 50,000 a day and so our goal is to have all the loose ends tied up by mid-October," State Auditor Tera Klutz
said.

Last week, Holcomb signed a bill approving $200 in automatic taxpayer refunds.

If you received a tax refund, and you're signed up for direct deposit then the Department of Revenue will deposit the money in your account, just like it did with the $125 payment earlier this year.

Paper checks will be issued to Hoosiers who owed the state taxes last year. Those have been delayed by a paper shortage.

So, if you're still waiting you'll get a paper check for both amounts.

"We are required to combine the $200 with the $125, if we made that payment after August 1 according to the law that just passed," Klutz said.

Tax-exempt Hoosiers were not eligible for the $125 dollars but can get a refundable $200 credit in 2023 if they received social security benefits this year, were not claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer, and filed a tax return for 2022 claiming the $200.

All of those requirements must be met.

Klutz says thanks to sports betting, online shopping, conventions, sports events, and more, the state thrived this year, which led to the two payments from the budget surplus.

"Earlier this year, when we ended fiscal year 2022, with a historic surplus of $3.9 billion reserve and we did not anticipate having that much left over," she said. "We are happy to give this money back to taxpayers."