State lawmakers, revenue commissioner say they’ll fix tax deduction error

Minnesota officials say they’ll work to fix an error that was included in the tax bill approved by lawmakers this year.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue says the legislation set the 2024 standard tax deduction amount at the 2019 levels instead of the 2023 levels, which factor in four years of inflation.

The error would increase the amount of taxable income for the 2024 tax season, the department says.

However, Revenue Commissioner Paul Marquart and tax chairs Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope) and Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL-Minneapolis) announced an agreement to fix the error in next year’s legislative session.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue said the mistake won’t impact any taxpayers for the current 2023 year, but without a fix, it could cost taxpayers.

Republicans blasted the DFL and Gov. Tim Walz’s administration for the mistake.

“While working Minnesota families have been left believing the entire 2023 legislative session was a mistake for our state’s future, today’s announcement of a $352 million mistake in the tax bill shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Senate Tax Committee Lead Bill Weber (R-Luverne) and Sen. Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) said in a joint statement. “Working at a breakneck pace all session, the tax bill was negotiated by Democrats behind closed doors until the last minute. There was no opportunity for Republicans, non-partisan staff, the press, or the public to review and double-check the bill language. Rather than focus on the nuts-and-bolts of legislating to pass an error-free budget, we saw liberal ideals and special interests prioritized over good governance all session. And now they have a budget hole to fix before it impacts taxpayers. So not only was the entire surplus spent, but it appears we’ll have to run the numbers – with accurate language this time – to see how the mistake can be corrected.”