Lines had already formed on the ground floor of the AP Lutali Executive Office Building in Utulei before 6 this morning when early morning ASG employees started their work day.
The announcement from Treasury yesterday about the release of the first batch of refund checks, $1.6 million worth, had said the checks would be issued beginning at 10 am.
Mothers and fathers brought their babies and toddlers, and teens stood in line for their parents while they waited patiently.
And it was a long wait especially for those who came much earlier than the announced time.
Three Disbursing windows were opened when KHJ News visited the EOB around 10:45 am, by which time the check disbursement had been in progress for more than two hours.
Treasury decided to open the windows early seeing that their was already a que by 7am.
By that time a single line had formed in front of the disbursing office, which snaked through the atrium, and went around the benches and plant holders on the ground floor of the EOB.
Many of those in line were cannery employees who were the first to file in January.
One woman said she had been in line for three hours and wasn’t going home until she got her check.
Another who had just joined the line at 11:00 said she filed on January 29, which is the cutoff date for the batch that was released today.
She said she was happy to finally get her refund check but was also sad that the amount is not what it used to be because of the higher wage tax.
She said the processing of tax refunds is not like it used to be.
The woman said before one can get their refund in two weeks after filing and the issuance of checks starts in January, not March. .
