Kemp Refund Check: Eligibility, Amounts, Offsets, and Status

The Kemp refund check under HB 1000 pays up to $250 for single or married-filing-separately filers, $375 for head of household, and $500 for married filing jointly, with the Georgia Department of Revenue beginning to issue payments on May 4, 2026.¹ You qualify if you filed Georgia individual income tax returns for both 2024 and 2025 on time, lived in Georgia, and had a tax liability greater than zero on your 2024 return.

Governor Brian Kemp signed HB 1000 on March 20, 2026. It works the same way the 2023 surplus refund did, just shifted to the current tax years.

Who Qualifies

Three conditions decide eligibility, and all three have to be met.

You must have filed a Georgia individual income tax return for tax year 2024 and tax year 2025 by the applicable deadlines. The 2024 deadline was April 15, 2025 (October 15, 2025 with an extension). The 2025 deadline is April 15, 2026 (October 15, 2026 with an extension). Both returns have to be on file before the Department of Revenue will process your refund.²

You must have owed Georgia income tax on your 2024 return before withholding, credits, or other payments were applied. If your 2024 liability was zero, no refund comes, no matter how much was withheld from your paychecks. Anyone claimed as a dependent on someone else’s 2024 return with no income of their own is also out.²

Full-year Georgia residents in both 2024 and 2025 receive the full amount for their filing status. Part-year residents and nonresidents who filed Georgia returns for both years can still receive a refund, but the amount is prorated using the ratio on your 2024 Georgia Form 500, Schedule 3, Line 9.²

One more condition from the Governor’s announcement: you can’t currently owe the Georgia Department of Revenue. Outstanding state tax debts can reduce or wipe out the check.¹ The program is only for individual filers. Corporate, partnership, and fiduciary returns don’t qualify.³

How Much You’ll Get

The maximums by 2024 filing status:

Single or Married Filing Separately: up to $250
Head of Household: up to $375
Married Filing Jointly: up to $500

These are ceilings, not fixed amounts. You receive the lower of the cap for your filing status or your actual 2024 tax liability. If you filed jointly but your 2024 liability was only $180, the check is $180.³

The liability figure the state uses is on your 2024 Georgia return: Form 500, Line 16, or Form 500EZ, Line 4. That’s the tax you owed before withholding and credits reduced it.²

If your filing status changed between the two years, the refund uses your 2024 status. Single in 2024 and head of household in 2025 means up to $250, not $375.²

When and How You’ll Receive It

Payments started going out May 4, 2026.¹ The refund uses whatever method you chose on your tax return. If you picked direct deposit, the money lands in that bank account. If you filed a paper return or requested a check, one comes by mail.³

How to Check Your Status

The Department of Revenue runs an online surplus refund checker that’s available around the clock. You’ll need two things to log in:

Your SSN or ITIN
Your Federal Adjusted Gross Income from your 2024 Georgia return (Form 500, Line 16, or Form 500EZ, Line 4)

Go to the Department of Revenue’s surplus tax refund page and open the eligibility checker link. It will show whether the refund has been processed, how it was issued, and the amount. The status updates nightly, so checking more than once a day doesn’t help.³

The Department has asked taxpayers to hold off on calling for at least six to eight weeks after HB 1000 was signed on March 20, 2026. Phone staff see the same information the online tool displays.³

Offsets That Can Reduce Your Check

Georgia law lets state agencies intercept refunds to pay off outstanding debts. Delinquent state taxes, past-due child support, and other obligations to state agencies can all pull from your surplus refund. Agencies with offset authority include the Department of Human Services, the Department of Labor, the Georgia Student Finance Commission, the Georgia Lottery Corporation, and the IRS.⁴

If an offset reduces or takes your refund, the collecting agency should send a separate notice explaining which debt the money went to and how much was applied.²

Is the Refund Taxable

Not for Georgia purposes. HB 1000 prohibits the state from taxing it. If federal rules require you to include the refund in federal taxable income, you can subtract that amount on Line 12 of Schedule 1 on your Georgia Form 500.²

Federal treatment depends on how you filed. If you took the standard deduction, the refund is not taxable federally. If you itemized but got no federal tax benefit from the state and local tax deduction, it’s also not taxable. If you itemized and did benefit from the SALT deduction, you may need to include the refund in federal gross income to the extent you benefited; the IRS instructions for Schedule 1 spell out the calculation, and a tax professional can work through it with you. The IRS has not released guidance specific to HB 1000, and the Department of Revenue points to prior IRS guidance on state tax refund payments as the framework.²

If Your Refund Is Missing or You Show as Ineligible

If the online tool says the refund was issued but the money hasn’t arrived, first confirm the bank account or mailing address on your 2025 return is current. Direct deposits sent to a closed or wrong account take extra time to resolve, and paper checks slow down during high-volume periods.

If the status hasn’t updated, check again the next day. For a lost, missing, or stolen paper check, you can request a replacement using Form IA-81, the Replacement Check Request Form, on the Department of Revenue website.⁵

If the portal marks you ineligible and you think that’s wrong, verify that your 2024 return shows a tax liability greater than zero and that both the 2024 and 2025 returns were filed on time. The most common reasons for ineligibility are a zero 2024 liability, a missing return for one of the two years, or being claimed as a dependent with no income.²

1
Governor Brian P. Kemp Office of the Governor. Gov. Kemp – Special Tax Refunds Begin Issuing
2
Georgia Department of Revenue. 2025 HB 1000 Surplus Tax Refund FAQs
3
Georgia Department of Revenue. Georgia Surplus Tax Refund
4
Georgia Department of Revenue. Refund Offsets to Other Agencies
5
Georgia Department of Revenue. IA-81 Replacement Check Request Form