Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Just in time for holiday shopping and Christmas gift-giving, ASG Treasury yesterday shared the good news on the distribution of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) funded by the federal government.

Treasury said that on Monday, Dec. 12, it will start paying out the EITC to qualified and eligible individuals. For those who filed between the beginning of the year and March 2, this release — on Monday — will cover 4,000 taxpayers with payments valued at $7.9 million.

“Not all eligible filers who submitted their tax returns on March 2 will receive their cash in this batch; instead, they will be included in the second allocation,” said Treasury in a brief statement.

All remaining eligible taxpayers who filed on March 2, to October 24, will be included in the second release, which will happen on Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. A total of $6.1 million for 4443 qualifying taxpayers will be covered in the second release of EITC.

Treasury said it will issue an announcement on release dates for those eligible taxpayers who filed after October 24.

Checks for those who have mailing addresses on their tax returns will be delivered to the US Post Office, while taxpayers without addresses must pick up their checks at Treasury’s Disbursing Office at the ground floor of the A.P. Lutali Executive Building in Utulei.

“We want to express our gratitude to the public for their understanding as we worked with our federal counterparts to make sure all issues were addressed,” the Treasury statement said.

The release of EITC comes after the Fono approved and Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo Ale — in his capacity as acting governor — signed the measure into law in September this year.

And the EITC announcement comes at a time when tax payers continue to question when the EITC would be released and hoped it would be prior to Christmas-week.

The Tax Office announced in October the planned release of EITC this month, and outlined summary information on who qualify for the tax credit.

According to the Tax Office, low to moderate income workers with qualifying children may be eligible to claim the EITC if certain qualifying rules apply to them.

To qualify for EITC you must have worked and earned income under $34,904.00 for Married Couples Filing Jointly and $29,904 for all other filing statuses. (See Samoa News edition Oct. 20 for details.)