Fulfilling a promise he made during his first State of the Territory Address in 2019, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. announced on Monday that the Bryan-Roach Administration has brought the Government of the Virgin Islands (GVI) up to date in providing income tax refunds for the current 2021 tax year.
Since September 1, 2022, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Department of Finance released 14,269 income tax refund checks totaling $31,444,284. Since 2020, Governor Bryan’s Executive Budgets have earmarked $25 million to be distributed quarterly and pay income tax refunds that the government owed.
In the latest round of checks distributed to residents this month, 2,941 refunds are for the 2021 tax year for returns filed earlier this year. All 2020 returns that were processed without audits or other issues have been paid out. “This takes care of everyone that has filed up until February of 2022. This also means we are now paying refunds in the same year they were filed,” Governor Bryan said during a press conference at Government House on St. Thomas. “We are on track to issue refunds to everyone that files by the April 15th filing deadline this year before the end of the year. This means we have officially caught up on the payment of tax refunds. A goal that once seemed insurmountable.”
To date, the Bryan-Roach Administration has issued 110,138 refund checks totaling $288,807,743. Additionally, the refunds paid out in the last two weeks included more than $1.3 million funded through the reimbursement of the Earned Income Tax Credit by the federal government. The Governor took time to thank Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett for her efforts making that possible.
The distribution of tax refunds during the Bryan-Roach Administration is:
- 2019 – 25,227 checks totaling $63,889,250
- 2020 – 16,023 checks totaling $49,078,464
- 2021 – 35,717 checks totaling $91,164,846
- 2022 – 33,171 checks totaling $84,675,182
While the majority of refunds that were owed to taxpayers dated back to 2016, some of the refunds issued by BIR since the Governor took office date back to 2002-2003, and 3,770 of those refunds are for tax years 2002- 2015.
“This is a mission that the Administration embarked on from our first year in office, and we have worked meticulously and tirelessly to achieve this goal,” Governor Bryan said Monday. “As a result of this reimbursement and with the hard work and diligent fiscal practices of this administration, we will be able to remain current on the payment of refunds moving forward.”