INDIANAPOLIS – Hoosiers still waiting on mailed checks for their $125 Automatic Taxpayer Refund could receive them as early as next week if all goes as planned. A paper shortage had delayed the checks by several weeks.

The checks will now include the original $125 taxpayer refund as well as the $200 payment approved during the special session. Individual taxpayers will receive $325 while married couples filing jointly will get $650 checks.

According to the Auditor of State’s Office, combining the two amounts into one check will save the state more than a million dollars in processing, printing and postage fees. The state auditor is now reportedly awaiting data from the Indiana Department of Revenue listing recipients who did not receive their payments via direct deposit. Officials say their office is capable of printing up to 50,000 checks a day and hopes to start next week. The mailing process then takes 24 to 48 hours.

The first checks could arrive as soon as Wednesday, August 17th, or Thursday, August 18th. There are an estimated 1.7 million checks to print and send. The state aims to have all checks printed by early October.

Indiana taxpayers who received their original taxpayer refund via direct deposit will get the new payment that way as well. The Department of Revenue is handling the direct deposits.

Hoosiers who are eligible for the $200 payment but didn’t file a tax return will have to file taxes next year in order to receive it.

The state is asking anyone with questions about their payments to wait until November 1st now that the second payments are in the process of being sent.