Alaskans have until Sunday, March 31 to apply for a 2024 Permanent Fund dividend.
According to the state Permanent Fund Dividend Division’s website, more than 565,000 dividend applications have been filed as of Thursday afternoon. Alaskans have until 11:59 p.m. Sunday to file an online application.
Division Director Genevieve Wojtusik said Thursday that application rates have been “pretty much on track” this season, with staff at the division’s offices handling an anticipated last-minute surge.
“We’ve helped over 1,000 people a day every day this week, either by in-person (service) in Juneau, Anchorage or Fairbanks, or on our phone queue statewide or email system statewide,” she said.
The division’s Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau offices are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Wojtusik said no extended or weekend hours at those locations are planned this week. She also encouraged people applying in person to have identification, as well as supporting documents.
“We appreciate them bringing a form of ID and if it’s their first time filing, they’ll need to provide a birth certificate or passport – but they don’t need to do that by March 31,” she said. “We just encourage everyone to apply now; we can get supporting documentation later.”
The amount of this year’s dividend is still being hammered out during a contentious session of the Alaska Legislature. Lawmakers have been pushing back against Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget, which calls for a $3,300 dividend and no increase in the state’s base student allocation to schools. But last week, the Legislature narrowly failed to override Dunleavy’s veto of an education bill featuring a BSA increase.
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Last year’s dividend amount was $1,312.
Chris Klint is a web producer and breaking news reporter at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cklint@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Chris here.
