New York mailed 8.2 million inflation refund checks of up to $400

In the fall of 2025, New York mailed more than 8.2 million one-time inflation refund checks to eligible New Yorkers. Nobody had to apply or sign up. The state Tax Department used 2023 state tax returns to decide who got a check and how much.

Joint filers with income up to $150,000 got $400, and those earning up to $300,000 got $300. Single filers got $200 with income up to $75,000 and $150 with income up to $150,000. You qualified if you were a full-year New York resident in 2023, filed a resident return, met the income limits, and weren’t claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return. There was no age limit, so retirees who filed a return could qualify.

Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed the refund in her January 2025 budget, describing it as giving back extra sales-tax revenue that inflation had brought in, and signed it into law on May 9, 2025. The state paid for the checks, about $2.035 billion in all, out of a one-year budget surplus. The tax bill that carried the refund also cut middle-class income tax rates and expanded the state’s child tax credit. It passed the Assembly 103–46 and the Senate 35–27. Mailings began Sept. 26, 2025, and the main phase was complete by Nov. 25.