Sam Drysdale
Massachusetts tax collectors brought in $3.148 billion in August, with the Department of Revenue reporting Thursday that receipts grew by 12.9% over collections in August 2025.
DOR Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder said the year-over-year increase was driven by increases relative to last year in all major tax categories, including withholding, non-withholding income tax, corporate and business tax, sales tax and ‘all other’ tax.
August is the second month of collections for fiscal year 2027. Year-to-date collections totaled approximately $6.234 billion, which is $760 million or 13.9% more than actual collections in the same period of fiscal 2026.
The reported collections are not being measured against fiscal year 2027 benchmarks, which are expected to be established later this month, DOR said.
Income tax collections generated $1.9 billion in August, a jump of $186 million or 10.8% from last year. Withholding totaled $1.71 billion, income tax estimated payments $139 million, income tax returns $90 million, sales tax collections $852 million, corporate and business collections $70 million, and the ‘all other’ tax category, fueled largely by estate taxes, rose $87 million to $326 million. Income tax cash refunds for August totaled $40 million in outflows.
“The increase in withholding was driven, in part, by an increase in collections from firms in the professional, scientific and technical services industry and firms in the healthcare and social assistance industry,” Snyder said. “The increase in non-withholding income tax is driven mostly by estimated and return payments due, in part, to an increase in pass-through entity tax (PTET), and a favorable decrease in refunds. The increase in sales tax is due, in part, to typical fluctuations in monthly collections. The increase in corporate and business tax is due to increases in estimated and return payments, partially offset by an unfavorable increase in refunds. The increase in ‘all other’ tax is mostly due to an increase in estate tax, a category that tends to fluctuate, and rooms tax.”
