Rev & Tax working overtime to process tax refunds

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Have you filed your taxes yet? Well, if you haven't, Monday is the deadline to do so...or to at least file for a six-month extension.  The Guam Department of Revenue & Taxation is working overtime to get the refunds out within the six months that has been ordered by the District Court through a permanent injunction. 

With a court mandate to pay out tax refunds within six months from the date they were filed or the date they were due, whichever is later, Rev & Tax is trying to get ahead of the game.  They've already paid out approximately $28 million for more than 8,000 taxpayers, but there's still more than $75 million that needs to be paid.

"We're basically working overtime on Saturdays and some of our employees work from 5-7 to make sure that we process these returns because the law now the permanent injunction requires us now to strictly within six months from the date filed or due date of the return, whichever is later," said John Camacho. The agency's director, Camacho also says the permanent injunction from the District Court in the taxpayer lawsuit has added significant pressure in having to get refunds out in six months time by October 15 for error-free returns.

Camacho says they're expecting the bulk of filers on Monday. "So we're looking at if people file on April 15 - we normally get 44,000 refund tax payers, that's our normal. We anticipate that we may get 35,000 by April 15, that many, so we need to make sure that we're by September by August that all these returns are really processed already," he told KUAM News.

Rev & Tax will have staff on site at the Agana Shopping Center and the Micronesia Mall on Monday to accept returns. A drop box will also be available until midnight on the tax filing due date at Rev & Tax's Barrigada offices.

Camacho says staff will continue to work overtime over the next few months until all the refunds are paid out. It's how the department was able to pay out $28 million for early filers, as he said, "When you look at that the number of people filing with that short period of time from February 1 to the 12th cutoff date, about 6,000 people. We were averaging close to $2.5 million a work day that people were filing. So it's going to be very high in the months of February and March because those are the early people that want to get their refunds paid out," he said.

And for those who filed after February 12 and into March, Camacho says the department and the Calvo Administration are working hard to try and pay more refunds out soon. "I think fiscal is still looking at paying out some refunds this month , it's just a matter of I don't know when," he said. "So we're going to meet our deadline."