April State Revenue Slightly Above Estimates, But Affected To Change In Tax Filing Deadline; Year-To-Date Up $1.3 Billion

On May 3, the Department of Revenue reported Pennsylvania collected $4.0 billion in General Fund revenue in April, which was $28.2 million, or 0.7 percent, more than anticipated.

Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $32.7 billion, which is $1.3 billion, or 4.2 percent, above estimate.

The  Department noted personal income tax (PIT) revenue in April was $1.7 billion, $571.8 million below estimate. This is a direct result of the Department of Revenue extending the deadline for filing 2020 personal income tax returns and making final 2020 income tax payments. 

The filing deadline was moved to May 17, 2021 — about a month later than the original deadline — which means the majority of the PIT revenue shortfall from April is expected to be made up in May. 

Despite this shift, stronger-than-expected collections in April from the other two primary revenue sources — corporation tax and sales tax — largely offset the PIT shortfall. Overall, revenue collections are trending very positively when compared to this time last year.     

“The good news is that Pennsylvania’s economic outlook is much improved from November, when we created our monthly revenue estimates that anticipated a much slower recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Revenue Secretary Hassell said. “As of today, we are more than $1.3 billion above our estimate for the fiscal year. This is very positive news with two months to go in the current fiscal year.”    

Independent Fiscal Office

The Independent Fiscal Office reported General Fund revenue collections were $3.96 billion in April, $277.2 million (-6.5 percent) lower than the monthly projections associated with the IFO revised Official Estimate published in January 2021.

Fiscal-year-to-date (FYTD) General Fund collections are $32.68 billion, which are $274.5 million (0.8 percent) above estimate.

Click Here for the complete IFO report.

Dept. Of Revenue

Sales tax receipts totaled $1.2 billion for April, $273.1 million above estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $10.5 billion, which is $529.9 million, or 5.3 percent, more than anticipated.

Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in April was $1.7 billion, $571.8 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $12.9 billion, which is $299.3 million, or 2.3 percent, below estimate.

April corporation tax revenue of $551.2 million was $251.8 million above estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $5.2 billion, which is $728.4 million, or 16.3 percent, above estimate.

Inheritance tax revenue for the month was $145.5 million, $57.2 million above estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $1.1 billion, which is $162.9 million, or 17.2 percent, above estimate.

Realty transfer tax revenue was $52.6 million for April, $12.0 million above estimate, bringing the fiscal-year total to $518.2 million, which is $80.7 million, or 18.5 percent, more than anticipated.

Other General Fund tax revenue, including cigarette, malt beverage, liquor and gaming taxes, totaled $67.6 million for the month, $45.8 million above estimate and bringing the year-to-date total to $1.4 billion, which is $107.8 million, or 8.4 percent, above estimate.

Non-tax revenue totaled $226.3 million for the month, $39.9 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $1.1 billion, which is $2.8 million, or 0.3 percent, below estimate.

In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $283.2 million for the month, $14.4 million above estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund – which include the commonly known gas and diesel taxes, as well as other license, fine and fee revenues – total $2.3 billion, which is $14.5 million, or 0.6 percent, below estimate.

[Posted: May 3, 2021]