Georgia residents will get tax rebate checks this year

Georgia taxpayers are getting some of their money back.

With a unanimous vote Monday, the state Senate gave final approval to a bill that will distribute tax rebates worth $250 to individuals and $500 to married couples.

Gov. Brian Kemp proposed the rebates, guaranteeing that he’ll sign them into law.

Giving money back to Georgians is part of a bipartisan focus on affordability. The General Assembly’s Republican majority emphasized tax savings, including rebates and pending bills that would reduce income tax rates and curb property tax increases.

“It’s the taxpayers’ money. Give it back to them,” said state Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia. “Gov. Kemp’s policies have been working, and they work on both sides of the aisle.”

The Senate voted 53-0 to approve House Bill 1000 after it passed the House 172-0 earlier this month.

The rebates will cost nearly $1.1 billion, funded by the state government’s $14 billion surplus.

Democrats have mostly opposed deep, long-term income tax cuts, but they supported this partial refund of income taxes paid in 2024 and 2025.

“It’s good, commonsense legislation,” said Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, D-Augusta. “We were proud to vote for it.”

This will be the fourth time in the last five years that the state government has distributed tax rebates. Last year, the government began sending rebates in the summer months.

Rebates will be sent either by direct deposit or by check based on how Georgians paid their taxes this year.

Everyone who filed income tax returns for the 2024 and 2025 tax years and paid taxes in those years is eligible to receive a refund.

This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.

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