The Rhode Island Department of Revenue, Office of Revenue Analysis released its FY 2015 Revenue Assessment Report for March 2015 today. The Revenue Assessment Report, which is issued on a monthly basis, compares the adjusted general revenues, by revenue source, on a fiscal year-to-date and monthly basis to expected general revenues, by revenue source. Expected general revenues are estimated by the Department of Revenue's Office of Revenue Analysis from the revenue estimates adopted at the November 2014 Revenue Estimating Conference. The methodology underlying the Office of Revenue Analysis' estimates is contained in the attached report.
The March 2015 report finds that through March of the fiscal year, adjusted FY 2015 total general revenues lead expected FY 2015 revised total general revenues by $60.8 million, or 2.6 percent. It should be noted that the FY 2015 revenue estimates were revised upward by $15.8 million at the November 2014 Revenue Estimating Conference. On a year-to-date basis, personal income tax revenues are $19.3 million or 2.4 percent more than the expected revised personal income tax revenues.
For the month of March, adjusted FY 2015 total general revenues were ahead of expected FY 2015 revised total general revenues for March by $13.7 million or 4 percent. The personal income tax underperformed expected revenues for the month of March by $9.2 million or -16.1 percent.
The sales and use tax underperformed expectations for March with adjusted sales and use tax revenues trailing expected sales and use tax revenues for March by $1.4 million or -2.0 percent. Adjusted monthly lottery transfer revenues for March were $2.7 million less than expected monthly revised lottery transfer revenues for March, a variance of -8.7 percent. These revenue items appear negatively impacted by the harsh winter weather.
Finally, March is the first month in general business tax revenues outperformed expected March general business tax revenues. All components of general business taxes had adjusted March revenues in excess of expected March revenues, except bank deposits taxes the smallest nominal component. In particular, adjusted March financial institutions tax revenues and business corporations tax revenues exceeded monthly expectations by over $21.0 million, an impressive result. It should be noted that March 2015 is the first month for which business corporations tax filers made estimated payments under combined reporting with single sales factor apportionment and business corporation tax rate of 7.0 percent.
The full report is available by using the link below. Questions or comments may be directed to Paul Dion, chief of the division, by using the contact link.