Never received your California Middle Class Tax refund payment? Some people in California who have been left out will finally be getting their inflation relief payments this month. The Franchise Tax Board confirmed that 5,000 payments will be issued by the end of September for those who were never issued a payment. “Although FTB issued the vast majority of all payments by late January this year, we have continued to issue first-time payments based on updated address information and for taxpayers who contacted us to review their eligibility,” FTB spokesperson Andrew LePage said in a statement. He said that going forward there may still be occasional cases where people could be reissued payments, like if someone lost their debit card or their payment to a previous address was returned and the person reported their new address. The Middle Class Tax Refund was a one-time payment approved by lawmakers in 2022 to provide relief for eligible Californians amid high gas prices. About $9.2 billion in payments have been issued so far, including 7.2 million direct deposits and 9.6 million debit cards. Where things stand on issues with MCTR debit cards As of earlier this month, 87% of MCTR debit cards have been activated, though people have spent less than half of the $4.6 billion that was loaded on the cards, according to the FTB. The FTB says the cards will expire in April 2026 and that it has sent several letters this year reminding debit card recipients to activate their cards if they haven’t done so. KCRA 3 has documented problems with the MCTR’s program that have ranged from concerns of debit card fraud to trouble accessing customer support from the vendor used to provide the debit card payments, Money Network, and concerns by those left out of the program. The California State Auditor is looking into issues with the administration of the refunds. The FTB’s contract with Money Network requires a fraud prevention rate of at least 99%. The agency has previously said Money Network meets the terms of its contract. Asked for an updated estimate of fraud reports this week, FTB said it was “following the industry best practice of not commenting on fraud levels or divulging any information that might be helpful to bad actors.”
Never received your California Middle Class Tax refund payment? Some people in California who have been left out will finally be getting their inflation relief payments this month.
The Franchise Tax Board confirmed that 5,000 payments will be issued by the end of September for those who were never issued a payment.
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“Although FTB issued the vast majority of all payments by late January this year, we have continued to issue first-time payments based on updated address information and for taxpayers who contacted us to review their eligibility,” FTB spokesperson Andrew LePage said in a statement.
He said that going forward there may still be occasional cases where people could be reissued payments, like if someone lost their debit card or their payment to a previous address was returned and the person reported their new address.
The Middle Class Tax Refund was a one-time payment approved by lawmakers in 2022 to provide relief for eligible Californians amid high gas prices. About $9.2 billion in payments have been issued so far, including 7.2 million direct deposits and 9.6 million debit cards.
Where things stand on issues with MCTR debit cards
As of earlier this month, 87% of MCTR debit cards have been activated, though people have spent less than half of the $4.6 billion that was loaded on the cards, according to the FTB.
The FTB says the cards will expire in April 2026 and that it has sent several letters this year reminding debit card recipients to activate their cards if they haven’t done so.
KCRA 3 has documented problems with the MCTR’s program that have ranged from concerns of debit card fraud to trouble accessing customer support from the vendor used to provide the debit card payments, Money Network, and concerns by those left out of the program. The California State Auditor is looking into issues with the administration of the refunds.
The FTB’s contract with Money Network requires a fraud prevention rate of at least 99%. The agency has previously said Money Network meets the terms of its contract.
Asked for an updated estimate of fraud reports this week, FTB said it was “following the industry best practice of not commenting on fraud levels or divulging any information that might be helpful to bad actors.”
