Sign-up for child tax refund begins May 15

Payments to go out in late summer

MADISON - Starting next month, parents will be able to sign up online for a one-time $100-per-child tax rebate, under legislation signed Tuesday by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as he rolls into his re-election bid.

In signing the nearly $137 million measure, the GOP governor also used his powerful veto pen to expand a separate sales tax holiday from one weekend this summer to five days — Aug. 1-5.

Parents will have from May 15 to July 2 to sign up for the tax rebate on a state Department of Revenue website that has yet to be launched. They’ll then receive the rebate checks later in the summer — just a few months before the November election.

“This rebate and sales tax holiday will help Wisconsin families with the costs of raising children,” Walker said in a statement. “A couple hundred dollars more in the family budget could really make a difference, particularly when getting ready for the next school year.”

Walker is making the most of the announcement, promoting the tax cuts at four stops around the state — in Waukesha, Ashwaubenon, Menomonie and Onalaska. He signed it on the day state and federal income taxes were due, giving him a chance to emphasize his support for tax cuts.

Under Senate Bill 798, parents will have the option to receive the child tax rebate through a check in the mail or direct deposit.

Families can receive the credit for dependent children who are younger than 18 as of Dec. 31, 2017, and who are Wisconsin residents and U.S. citizens. About 671,000 families with 1.22 million children are expected to meet the definition at a one-time cost to the state — and savings to taxpayers — of $122 million.

To sign up for the tax credit, parents can go to a state website that is not yet live but will launch in the coming days:

childtaxrebate.wi.gov. Parents without access to the internet will be able to call (608) 266-5437.

No claims for the credit will be accepted before May 15 or after July 2.

State Department of Revenue

spokeswoman Patty Mayers said the “vast majority” of taxpayers will not have to report the rebate checks as income when they file their tax returns for 2018 in the first part of next year.

Democrats said that with the rebate Walker was looking less at family checkbooks and more at his own bottom line.

“This tax rebate is nothing more than a bad-faith attempt to distract voters from his record before this fall’s election — once again, Gov. Walker puts his own political ambitions before the needs of Wisconsin families,” said former Madison Rep. Kelda Roys, just one of the Democrats competing to run against Walker in the Nov. 6 election.

The sales tax holiday would essentially waive the state’s 5% sales tax and applicable 0.5% local sales taxes for five days on a variety of school supplies and pieces of clothing priced at less than $75 each. The sales tax holiday will also apply to computer supplies priced at $250 or less each and computers of $750 or less each.

In signing the bill, Walker used his partial veto authority to expand the sales tax holiday from two days in August to five days. That will increase the holiday’s estimated cost — and the savings to consumers — from $11.8 million to $14.8 million, Mayers said.

Mayers said that in making the initial estimate the Walker administration had assumed the tax holiday would account for two average weeks of sales of computer supplies, computers and clothing. The new estimate assumes the longer holiday will account for 2.5 average weeks of sales, she said.