By The Oregonian/OregonLive
Oregonians will get an unprecedented 44% of their 2022 Oregon income taxes back through a kicker credit when they file their 2023 taxes next spring, the Oregon Department of Revenue announced Monday.
Revenue officials estimated in August that taxpayers would receive the biggest kicker tax rebate in state history – a whopping $5.6 billion. On Monday, they updated and finalized that number, with the refund rising to $5.61 billion.
The median Oregon taxpayer will receive a refund of about $980, according to an August estimate from the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.
Lower-income Oregonians will receive considerably less, with the bottom 20% of earners receiving only about $60. The top 1% of earners – who pay the most taxes – could receive rebates of more than $44,000.
Oregon taxpayers receive a kicker credit when state revenue exceeds what state economists forecast two years earlier by 2% or more. No other state has a similar law.
This year’s kicker is nearly three times the size of the biggest prior kicker, a sign that forecasters underestimated Oregon’s economic resilience coming out of the pandemic and the impact of inflation and rising wages.
Taxpayers can claim the kicker credit if they filed a 2022 Oregon tax return and had tax due before credits. They can file for the credit even if they don’t owe Oregon taxes on their 2023 income and receive the refund by check or electronic transfer. Oregon taxpayers can find their 2022 tax liability on line 22 of their 2022 Form OR-40. They can multiply that number by 44.28% – the official kicker percentage – to determine the size of their kicker credit.
Taxpayers can use the kicker to pay any state debt they owe, including tax due for other years, child support, court fines and school loans. They can also donate their entire kicker to the Oregon State School Fund to support K-12 public education by checking a box on their tax return or donate a portion or all of their kicker to any of 29 approved charities by using form OR-Donate.