Tax Breaks Coming To Many Minnesotans

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Tax relief is on the way for hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans. Gov. Mark Dayton approved a tax cut bill late on Friday that gives back $434 million to Minnesotans.

This comes after tax hikes, and the state had a more than $1 billion budget surplus. Here are some specifics of the tax cuts:

The new tax cuts will give more than 650,000 married couples an average of $115 per year through the elimination of the "marriage penalty." That begins this year.

More than 285,000 recent college graduates could save $190 per year by deducting student loan interest, and small employers can offer employees tax-free tuition and adoption assistance. But all of this change impacts peoples' taxes for 2013.

Officials with the Minnesota Department of Revenue said they are scrambling to keep up with the changes.

The relief is aimed to help low and middle income families in the state. Some of the cuts are retroactive and impact 2013 returns. So if you have already filed, the revenue department is looking through all the returns to see if there are any automatic deductions.

If not, they will contact people who need to file an amended return later this spring. This is not an easy process as programmers spent the weekend to update state filing systems and software. Also, they're asking people to wait until April 3 to file if they have not already.

However, Terri Steenblock with the Minnesota Department of Revenue says for people who have already filed, and may qualify for deductions, there may be delays.

"If taxpayers can wait until that April 3 date, that will allow their returns to be processed accurately with all the new tax law changes and it will allow them to get their refunds quicker," Steenblock said.

Officials said about half of all Minnesota taxpayers have filed taxes at this point. The marriage penalty tax gut will not change your taxes from 2013. It will start next year when you file your 2014 taxes. One million taxpayers still need to file.

Part of the reason the bill was passed so early was to help with taxes for this year; it gives one-third of state's surplus to tax relief. Republicans said the tax cuts are a good start but don't go far enough.

For more information and to see if you qualify for the deductions, you can visit the Minnesota Revenue's website or call 651-296-3781 (metro area) or 1-800-652-9094 (outstate Minnesota).