Some residents of Alaska will soon receive payments of up to $3,284 as a result of oil and gas revenues from 2022.
These residents will be paid from Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend. Revenue the state generates from its energy resources goes into the PFD. Created in 1976 to invest oil proceeds for future generations, the Permanent Fund is managed by a state-owned corporation.
Alaska began sending out 2022 payments from the state's PFD last fall and recently disbursed a portion in July. The latest batch of residents to be paid are scheduled to receive their checks Thursday.
Alaska's PFD funds are redistributed to residents every year, provided they meet certain criteria. The eligibility requirements include being a resident of Alaska for the entire calendar year before the date of application for a dividend, as well as intending to remain an Alaska resident indefinitely at the time of application. Residents are not eligible if they were incarcerated or convicted of a felony during the year of application. For anyone seeking to apply, the full list of requirements is available on Alaska's government website for PFD.
The group getting paid Thursday are residents who are still classified as "eligible-not-paid" as of August 9. Included in the payment—which can be up to $3,284—is $662 of nontaxable energy relief, but the rest is considered taxable income.
Alaskans applied for last year's PFD from January through March 31 of 2022. Exceptions are made for late applications in certain circumstances, such as for people who are disabled or members of the U.S. military who were deployed during the application period.
Corey Bigelow, operations manager for Alaska's PFD Division, told Newsweek the program "typically pays out 90-95 percent of its payments in October each year; however, there are still applicants/applications remaining to be determined, as the Division waits for needed documentation or correspondence from the individual Alaskans in order to make their final determination."
He added, "The PFD Division makes monthly payments to these Alaskans that have been determined after the mass payment(s). These payments are generally scheduled for settlement on the 3rd Thursday of each month."
There is still hope for those who haven't been paid, though. Dividend applications for the year 2022 that still fall under the "eligible-not-paid" status on September 6 are scheduled for check distribution on September 14.
The $3,284 being paid out by Alaska's PFD for 2022 is the highest divided in the more than four decades that the program has existed. When announcing the dividend amount in September 2022, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy also shared the news that some residents could expect their checks weeks early.
"The PFD at $3,284, a total of $13,000 for a family of four, can go a long way in offsetting the record-high costs of energy and food we're experiencing, preparing for winter, paying off debt, saving for college or any number of other purposes," the Republican governor said in a press release last year.
The previous highest PFD was $2,072 in 2015, while the lowest dividend amount was $331.94 in 1984. In 2021, the PFD payout was $1,114.
Update 08/17/23 9:20 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include comment from Alaska's PFD Division, which was obtained after the story was originally published.
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