PFD set at $1,312; direct deposit Oct. 5

The 2023 Permanent Fund dividend will be $1,312. Disbursement of the annual payments to Alaskans will begin Oct. 5 and continue over the following weeks, the Department of Revenue said Sept. 21.

Applicants who filed electronically and selected direct deposit to their checking or savings account should see the funds in their accounts on Oct. 5. The department will mail paper checks later in October to applicants who did not ask for direct deposit — the same for Alaskans who filed their application by paper instead of online.

The dividend this year will amount to more than $881 million in total state spending, with more than 600,000 Alaskans already determined eligible for the payment and thousands more still under review.

The amount of the annual payment is determined by the size of the legislative appropriation divided by the estimated number of eligible applicants.

The number of dividend recipients peaked at nearly 645,000 in 2011. In 2022, 625,912 people received a dividend, the lowest number since 2009.

The total number of recipients for this year won’t be known for several months as application processing continues, according to department spokesperson Aimee Bushnell.

When it comes to Alaskans waiting for the dividend payments to land in their bank accounts or mailboxes, “no news is good news,” Bushnell said. Applicants should not expect to hear from dividend administrators unless their application is denied or requires additional information.

This year’s payment size was determined by lawmakers based on what they called a 75-25 split, with three-quarters of the annual draw of Permanent Fund investment earnings going toward public services and one-quarter going toward the dividend.

The Legislature, and two governors, have not followed the 40-year-old dividend-only formula in state law since 2016, when falling oil revenues required the use of Permanent Fund earnings to help cover the state budget for schools and other services, as was intended when voters created the fund in 1976.

Last year’s payout, $3,284, included a special one-time energy rebate made possible by high oil prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Triple-digit oil prices for much of 2022 drove up Alaska’s state tax and royalty revenues.

The amount of the 2024 dividend will be set in next year’s legislative session.