The state has refunded $938 million to almost 47,000 businesses based upon a change to the franchise tax law passed during the 113th General Assembly.
The Tennessee Department of Revenue provided an update on the franchise tax property measure refunds during the department’s budget hearing with Gov. Bill Lee Tuesday.
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The 2024 fiscal year budget had provided $1.6 billion for about 120,000 taxpayers to receive refunds due to the legislature's change to its tax on businesses, a modification that removed the provision for the tax based on the amount of property a business owned. That means almost 59 percent of the money in the budget for the refunds has been given to approximately 39 percent of businesses that are eligible.
“We’ve approached this project with three main goals,” David Gerregano, commissioner of the Department of Revenue, said during the hearing. He stressed accuracy, efficiency and customer service.
"To be transparent, we proactively contacted each taxpayer our records indicate was eligible for a refund to let them know directly from us,” he said.
When asked by Lee about unprocessed claims, Gerregano responded by saying the department is processing claims as quickly as 11 days on average for filings that fall into certain criteria (and that do not have to be reviewed by a person). If an auditor must review a filing, those claims are processed in an average of 25 days.
Budget also addresses revenue shortfall while setting aside millions for vouchers
The department is accepting refund claims until Dec. 2 for most taxpayers, but those in eight counties impacted by Hurricane Helene have until May 1, 2025. Gerregano said that about 1,700 potential businesses in those counties have not yet filed.
The commissioner noted that the accounting sector is deadline-driven and the department does not have an estimate for how many filings to anticipate over the next two weeks.
"Tennessee public schools are underfunded, our highways are too congested, and our grocery tax is too high," says Senate Democratic Caucus press secretary Brandon Puttbrese. "Gov. Bill Lee’s corporate tax handouts are probably popular among his CEO buddies, but this trickle-down scheme isn’t solving a single problem for Tennessee’s working families."
This article was first published by Scene sister publication the Williamson Scene.
