SCDOR issues nearly $64M in rebates

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S.C. taxpayers received nearly $64 million from more 1.2 million lottery rebate checks, the S.C. Department of Revenue said.

The individual $50 rebate checks came from the state’s payout for the Mega Millions jackpot winner from the drawing on Oct. 24, 2018.  The S.C. Legislature voted to offer a rebate to taxpayers from state income tax revenues generated from the winning ticket.

The winning Mega Millions ticket, worth $1.5 billion, was sold at a Simpsonville convenience store.

SCDOR announced the rebates in September. Paper checks were mailed by Dec. 2 to the most recent address on file for eligible taxpayers.

About 65% of issued checks had been cashed as of Dec. 3, according to the news release. To qualify, taxpayers must have filed a 2018 S.C. individual income tax return before Oct. 15, 2019 and must have had a state tax liability after credits of at least $50.

As of Dec. 2, 1,279,935 rebate checks had been issued for a total of $63,996,750, the revenue department said.

“It was a major team effort to get these 1.2 million checks out the door on time and on budget,” Hartley Powell, SCDOR director, said in a news release.

Rebate status can be checked at dor.sc.gov/rebate through the end of 2019. SCDOR said more than 24,000 checks were returned because of a bad address. Addresses can be updated, and checks believed to be lost or stolen can be reported, at myDORWAY.dor.sc.gov. SCDOR advised waiting until Dec. 27 to allow for mail processing before reporting missing rebates.  

A dedicated call center created to answer rebate questions assisted more than 15,600 taxpayers, according to the news release. The revenue department said some taxpayers told call center staff they were donating their checks to teachers, schools or nonprofit organizations. Others called to verify the legitimacy of the check, or to seek a replacement after accidentally throwing the check away.