Virginia is sending out millions of $250 tax rebates. Here’s how to find out if you’ll get one.

Over the last few days, the Virginia Department of Taxation began the process of sending out roughly 3.2 million tax rebate payments of up to $250 per person.

But not everybody is getting one. Eligibility for the one-time rebates, resulting from huge revenue surpluses filling up state coffers, depends on how much a filer owed in state taxes for 2021.

Tax officials published an online tool Monday that lets Virginians check their eligibility to help people find out if they’ve got money coming their way in the next few weeks.

The website, which can be found here, allows taxpayers to type in their Social Security number/tax identification number and zip code, showing them how much money they can expect to receive.

The rebates, most of which will go out via check or direct deposit by Oct. 10, were part of the bipartisan budget deal the General Assembly approved in June. The exact timing of the payments depends on when a taxpayer filed their return, but officials have said all rebates should be completed by the end of the year.

At a budget meeting last week, tax officials said they expect to send out about 1.9 million checks and 1.3 million direct deposit payments at a rate of roughly 250,000 rebates per day.

Some taxpayers will have their rebates sent elsewhere to help settle an outstanding debt, but tax officials have said they plan to explain where the money went in those cases.

The state has also boosted its call-center resources in anticipation of an influx of taxpayer calls asking about the rebates. During a similar rebate initiative in 2019 that involved smaller payments, the state received roughly 60,000 phone calls, according to Virginia Tax Commissioner Craig M. Burns.

“I expect we’ll receive probably north of that again this time,” Burns told the House Appropriations Committee last week.

“You might get 60,000 calls,” joked Appropriations Chairman Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach. “If they’re not there on Nov. 1, we’re going to get 60,000 also.”

by Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury