Payments will be issued from mid-November through December to support Maine people who worked during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic
Governor Janet Mills announced today that 524,754 working Maine people will receive a Disaster Relief Payment of $285. The payments will be issued by the Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS) beginning Monday, November 15, 2021 through the end of the year.
The one-time payments are the result of a bipartisan budget deal enacted by the State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Mills as a thank you to those who continued to show up to work during the pandemic last year.
“The hardworking men and women who kept our state running through the pandemic deserve our appreciation,” said Governor Janet Mills. “As a result of the bipartisan budget passed by the Legislature and signed by me, my Administration will send one-time payments of $285 to more than half a million working Maine people. I hope this will help Maine families to some small degree during the holiday season as we work to fully recover our economy.”
“This bipartisan initiative will provide financial relief to Mainers who worked during the pandemic, and we aim to get these checks into these Mainers’ hands as quickly as possible,” said Kirsten Figueroa, Commissioner for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services.
Payments will be issued automatically to those eligible beginning Monday, November 15, 2021 – with between 5,000 and 25,000 checks issued most days over a period of six weeks. Payments will be sent via paper check via the U.S. Postal Service no later than December 31, 2021.
Under the Disaster Relief Payment Program as defined in law, the State Tax Assessor within DAFS was required to identify each eligible Maine citizen, and then determine the payment amount, up to a maximum of $300, by dividing the amount of the funds available by the total number of eligible Maine citizens, including the estimated number of unidentified eligible Maine citizens.
The State Tax Assessor has identified 524,754 Maine individuals eligible for a payment. Dividing the allocated funding of $149.8 million by the 524,754 individuals would result in a payment amount of $285.46. The number of eligible individuals may change as records are re-verified in batches as payments are issued, and so the payment amount has been rounded to an even $285 to ensure enough funding to provide payments to up to 860 additional eligible individuals.
The State Tax Assessor determined eligibility based upon tax filings for the 2020 tax year. Individuals must have lived full-time in Maine and earned wages, salaries, tips, or other taxable employee pay within the 2020 tax year, and have reported that income on a State individual tax return by October 31, 2021. Eligible recipients must have had adjusted gross income of less than $75,000 (or less than $150,000 if filing jointly) for the 2020 tax year, and those claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer’s return for the 2020 tax year were deemed ineligible.
No application is required. Full eligibility details are available at Maine.gov/revenue/check. Those with questions about Disaster Relief Payments should contact Maine Revenue Services at (207) 624-9924 or visit Maine.gov/revenue/check.