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The Department of Revenue has received more than 30,000 abatement claims resulting from the issuance of revised DD 12-1, on March 15, 2012,: G.L. c.62, s.6(a) Credit for Taxes Paid to Another Jurisdiction: Insurance Fund Payments Made Pursuant to Rhode Island Law. This Directive ruled that mandatory payments made by a Massachusetts taxpayer to Rhode Island under the Rhode Island Temporary Disability Insurance Act should be afforded the credit against Massachusetts personal income tax as taxes paid to another jurisdiction. The Directive allowed Massachusetts taxpayers who have paid the RI Disability tax to claim a credit for tax year 2011, and for the three years previous. Now that the April 18 tax filing deadline has passed, those seeking the credit may file for tax years 2011, 2010 and 2009. The Directive triggered a huge volume of abatements, many of them filed in error. The most frequent of those errors is to calculate the credit incorrectly by claiming the amount paid to the Rhode Island fund as the amount of the requested abatement. This, however, is not a refundable credit. For instance, if your Massachusetts income tax for the period was zero there is no allowable credit for taxes paid to another jurisdiction. The allowable credit is the lesser of the Massachusetts income tax on the income reported to Rhode Island compared with the actual income tax paid to Rhode Island plus the RISDI. Based upon the significant number of abatements and the amount of time needed for our staff to recalculate the allowable credit for all applicable tax years, the length of time to process these abatements has significantly increased. To help address this backlog and time delay, DOR has reassigned staff to assist in working these abatement cases. The Department processes and completes abatement claims on a first in, first out basis. Based upon the high volume of claims received, our processing time is approximately six months. We appreciate your patience in this matter and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
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It sounds a little excessive that the processing time for ~ 30,000 abatements will be upto 6 months when the State can settle all the tax returns for every MA resident who files a tax return in a couple of months. Was the State expecting a lower volume of claims? I would assume the DOR had a pretty good idea of how many filers would qualify for the abatement.
Jorge –The abatements are taking so long for two reasons. First, the vast majority of claims have incorrectly calculated the amount of the allowable credit. This is not a refundable credit and every claim is being recalculated to ensure that it is correct. The second reason is that processing tax returns is electronic as approx. 90% of the income tax returns are filed electronically and there is no need to recalculate the tax.
My concern is that the original time frame given was 90 days. I mailed in my 2009, 2010, and 2011 abatements on April 5th. Once the 90 days passed and I called for a status I was told that they were being processed in order of receipt and that the abatements received in February were being worked on- but it’s my understanding that the revision was issued on March 15th so I’m not sure how any abatements could have been filed in February. I can sympathize with the large number of claims received but if 90% of returns were filed electronically it should have been expected since the RISDI is entered as part of entering the W-2 form and a database should have been able to see how many filers had reported it. I also think that clearer instructions could have been provided, such as “take the figure in box X of form A and subtract it from box Y of form B”. This would have reduced the number of incorrect calculations and sped up the process. This is all just my opinion- it’s found money and I’ll be thankful to receive it but 6 months is a very long time and I do wish that communication had been a bit more clear.
Six months??? Six months from the time I first sent my abatements in (which was already over three months ago) or six months from NOW?
how are we going to find out if our abatements have been actually processed and if we are due a refund or not?
A month ago I was told 2-6 months. Today I was told 6 months or more. I’m really surprised while it only took 5 minutes to Web file. Everything is already uploaded into their database as seen on the Web file system.
I am tired of calling for an update and getting an attitude on the other end and then all they tell you is how many they have and you have to wait like everyone else. First of all I didn’t call and ask how many they have and how overworked they are or the status of everyone’s else’s. I just want them to look up mine and tell me where it stands and where it goes from there is that so hard. I also agree with why it should take this long I mean 6 mths really its like everyone else is saying they get more than that during regular tax season and those are done alot sooner then 6mths. I am getting very fustrated and would like to see a check please and with interest added onto it. Also does anyone important even read these posts and do anything about the complaints on here.
Hi Janice.. yes, we certainly understand your frustration, however we have received an unprecedented number of abatement claims due to this recent law change. We have added many additional staff members and are working to the best of our ability to process these cases. It is extremely important that we work the cases in the order in which they were received. We are currently working on cases that were received on 3/29 (paper) and 4/12(online). After reviewing your case, we will make our determination and issue any refunds that may be due. If the claim did not require any additional information, interest will be included in the refunded amount. Thank you for your patience in the is matter.
I mailed my info on April 14th. My forms were done by H & R Block for 4 years of abatements. When will I expect results? This wait seems a bit excessive.
For anyone who may have incorrectly calculated the allowable credit, will you make a correction and let the person know, or at least let them know of the error and how to correct it? Given the 6 month time frame to process these (it’s been 4months since mine was submitted) it’s difficult to know if the request has not been attended to or wheter it was processed and discarded if a calculation error took place.
Submitted my 2008, 2009 and 2010 abatement requests online on March 23rd and faxed requested material on April 24th. Comment above says they are now working on online submissions from April 14th but haven’t gotten mine yet and was told they have all my materials. What gives? Very frustrated to say the least!
Thank you Loretta Talbot for the informative update posted August 14. Please initiate that type of update weekly. That allows taxpayers to guage when their claim may be reviewed.
You have to love the fact that if we owed the government money we would be charged penalties if said monies were not paid by April 15th so why is it that when it’s the other way around and the government owes us money we are at their mercy? Seems to me they need to either get it in gear and give us our money or pay the penalty for holding on to it!
Can anyone tell me if the online abatement forms have been updated/corrected to allow for filing for this abatement of the RI TDI? At the time the directive was issued and through April 15, the form did not allow for the specific entry for the TDI – hence probably why there are so many errors. I only filed 2008 as that was set to expire, and wanted to see that processed before I threw in 2009-2012. So has the form been updated? I filed around April 12th and have heard nothing as yet. Thanks.
I mailed mine in on March 17th and still have not received my return. I was told that for some reason, it shows up as an April 3rd arrival time. OK, why it would take over two weeks to travel via mail 50 miles I don’t know, but, whatever. So, I’m told they are getting to April 1st now and being the 3rd mine should be processed “soon.” Are you telling me it’s taken six months just to process the ones from March 14th (when it first took effect)to March 31st???…and again, never mind that it was lost in their mail for at least 10 days.
Is there any update on where the DOR is in regards to the abatements? The last I read on here from August 14th… “We are currently working on cases that were received on 3/29 (paper) and 4/12(online). ”
We have received a letter saying our abatement was approved. How long will it be until a check will be sent.
It would be nice if they would post updates on this TDI issue…I agree with everyone this is kind of ridiculous already and fustrating..Mine were recieved april 9th and every month I get “Its in the system but not looked at yet call next month.” I dont understand if the revision was issued in March how are they working on February abatements??
My abatement was sent in on March 23rd and I have yet to receive even a notification that it has even been looked at. It truly amazes me! If we owed the State any money they would sure be up our backsides and hitting us with fines for every day it’s not paid! Why is it they can take their sweet time when giving us back our money! Good luck trying to even get someone on the phone and my accountant’s office doesn’t even want to deal with it at this point. NICE!
We received our 2008 but not 09 or 10. Has anyone else not gotten theirs. It is almost tax time again. Very frustrating!
How do you file an abatement in MA for the RI TDI credit? Is this something I can do online, or is there a form to send?