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Tax refunds, Batch #5 set for release today, Monday May 1

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reporters@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa is getting an economic boost of more than $3 million, through tax refunds for Batch #5, which the ASG Treasury Department says will be released today Monday, May 01, giving consumers who are getting refunds additional buying power.

ASG Acting Treasurer Levi Reese announced in a brief statement last Friday afternoon that a total of 855 taxpayers who filed on Feb. 13 to partial of Feb. 16, 2023 — for tax year 2022 — will be getting their refunds through direct deposits, the U.S Post Office and pick up at the Treasury’s Disbursing Office on the ground floor of the A.P. Lutali Executive Office Building (EOB) in Utulei.

Of the total of more than $3.93 million for Batch #5, Treasury says that just over $2 million is funded with local revenues; $712,402 for the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) and over $1.21 million in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

The ACTC and EITC portions of tax refunds are federally funded.

Treasury says that if you are expecting your refund and don't receive it, please call (633-4181) or visit the Tax Office — the ground floor of the EOB — for further information and assistance.

The latest tax refund batch comes at a time when many taxpayers expecting refunds took to social media with their complaints over why the government is taking so long to release a new batch as the month of April was coming to an end.

Others complained that ASG was spending too much time and money on the Atoa-o-Samoa meeting, hosted here last month, and its related activities, instead of paying out local tax payers’ tax refunds.

Samoa News received several inquiries last week from taxpayers wanting to know of any update about when the next batch would be released. As word circulated in the community over the weekend of Batch #5 being released today, many were appreciative, saying, “It’s about time”.

The last tax refund batch of more than $3 million was released on Apr. 06.