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Taxpayers in the Empire State will soon receive a refund to help offset rising living costs. Part of the 2025-2026 New York State budget allocates funds for inflation refund checks. The onetime payments offer relief to New Yorkers who have incurred increased sales tax costs due to inflation. According to the state, 8.2 million households will receive payments. Governor Kathy Hochul announced that as of September 26, inflation refund checks have started to be mailed to taxpayers. Checks will continue to be issued throughout October and November. Here’s what to know about whether you’re eligible, how much you’ll receive, and more. Am I eligible for an inflation refund check? Yes, if for tax year 2023 you: Filed Form IT-201, New York State Resident Income Tax Return Reported income within the qualifying thresholds Were not claimed as a dependent on another taxpayers return Theres no need to apply to receive a refund check. Checks will be mailed out automatically to those who meet the above eligibility requirements. What are the income thresholds, and how much will I receive? Check amounts are being issued in the range of $150 to $400; amounts vary by tax filing status for the 2023 tax year and your 2023 New York Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), found on Form IT-201, line 33. For single filers: 2023 AGI of $75,000 or less: Refund amount of $200 2023 AGI of more than $75,000, but not more than $150,000: Refund amount of $150 For married joint filers: 2023 AGI of $150,000 or less: Refund amount of $400 2023 AGI of more than $150,000, but not more than $300,000: Refund amount of $300 For married separate filers: 2023 AGI of $75,000 or less: Refund amount of $200 2023 AGI of more than $75,000, but not more than $150,000: Refund amount of $150 For head of household filers: 2023 AGI of $75,000 or less: Refund amount of $200 2023 AGI of more than $75,000, but not more than $150,000: Refund amount of $150 For qualifying surviving spouse filers: 2023 AGI of $150,000 or less: Refund amount of $400 2023 AGI of more than $150,000, but not more than $300,000: Refund amount of $300 How can I make sure I receive my check? Due to the high volume of checks being processed, it may take time to receive your refund. If you’re eligible, your check will be mailed to the address associated with your most recently filed tax return. If youve moved since filing your 2024 return, or you haven’t yet filed a return for tax year 2024, you can update your address with the New York Department of Taxation and Finance through your Individual Online Services Account. (If you dont have an Individual Online Services Account, you can create one.) Watch out for scams If someone contacts you about your refund check, it’s likely a scam. Hochul cautioned New Yorkers to be alert to scammers who are sending voice messages, text messages, emails, and direct mail to taxpayers in an attempt to defraud them. New Yorkers do not have to do anything to receive an inflation refund check outside of meeting the eligibility requirements, Hochul said in a news release. With scams targeting the state’s inflation refund initiative, let me be clear,” she continued. “The Tax Department and the IRS do not call or text individuals for personal information. My administration urges New Yorkers to remain vigilant and report these scams to the Tax Department to protect yourself from being a victim.” Scams can be reported to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
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E-Commerce
Creating a standout résumé or cover letter is your first (and sometimes only) chance to make a strong impression with prospective employersto really sell yourself. But theres a caveat, HR experts say: dont sound desperate. While were taught to tailor résumés for the job and really showcase accomplishments, experts argue theres such a thing as going overboard. Employers could find it off-putting. Or worse, they could think youre overrepresenting your credentials. According to job search platform FlexJobs 2025 Job Search Trends Report, one in three professionals admitted to lying on a résumé or cover letteroften to appear as the “perfect fit” or to meet perceived expectations. Unfortunately, HR decision-makers can see through the fake hype, even if you have the most honest of intentions. When a résumé feels too polished or too perfect, it can raise red flags for recruiters, leading them to question authenticity rather than recognize potential, says Jill Chapman, who leads the strategy and execution of companywide talent initiatives at HR services company Insperity. The best résumés balance impact with honesty. But in a competitive job market like this one, in which many are out of work for months and bills are piling up, it can be tempting to ratchet up the sensationalization or fudge the facts. Heres how to craft a winning application: one that keeps you honest and authentic, even when youre desperate to be hired. Use confident, credible language Its expected that youll tout your accomplishments. But sometimes, the words you use to play up your experience can actually weaken your message. The goal: avoid sounding overly self-promotional, says Chapman. When writing a résumé, use language that demonstrates self-awareness, clarity, and purpose, she suggests. One way to highlight contributions honestly is to avoid claiming sole credit for team accomplishments. Instead of single-handedly led, maybe try played a key role in, says Chapman. Also, steer clear of adding fluffy language for its own sake, or including unrelated experience. Listing responsibilities or accomplishments ad nauseum doesnt make you sound more impressive, it makes you sound more long-winded. Smart brevity is best, and a focused, relevant résumé beats a long one every time, notes Chapman. Let your impact speak for you Use results-driven language: metrics, growth, and outcomes.: Led a marketing campaign that increased enrollment by 20% is far more effective than marketing expert, says Traci Wilk, chief people officer at The Learning Experience, a Florida-based early education company in Florida. Cut out the clutter Desperation often shows up as clutter, cites Keith Spencer, a Pennsylvania-based career expert at Resume Now, an AI resume-building company. When you list every job you’ve ever had, no matter how unrelated, it feels like you’re throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks, he says. Aim to tailor your résumé to the job you want, highlighting the most aligned experience. Itll come off as more authentic, and less desperate. Highlight impact, not just effort In job applications, focus on what you accomplished rather than how badly you want it, says Spencer. Metrics, results, and outcomes speak louder than adjectives, he says. When you show what you delivered, employers see your value. Temper your excitement Hiring managers are looking to recruit candidates who are both excited about the opportunity and confident. But be mindful about allowing excitement to become desperation. Desperation can signal insecurity, lack of self-awareness, or even a lack of selectivity in what roles youre targeting, explains Wilk. She says HR managers can see desperation in phrases such as open to all opportunities or give me a chance to prove myself. Your messaging can also lower your credibility when you use overly dramatic language like, Im the missing piece your company needs. These kinds of statements feel more like a plea than a pitch, and that could be a red flag for me, Wilk emphasizes. At the end of the day, it can be easy to feel like you need to do whatever it takes to land on your next life raft. But sometimes, its better not to sound desperate . . . even if you really are.
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E-Commerce
If you handle hiring, generic AI-generated cover letters are probably a familiar foe by now. Nearly two-thirds of job seekers are using AI to help craft their applications. Its understandable. In a world where some job seekers are having to send up to 50 applications to land a role, tools like ChatGPT enable them to cast their net wide and increase their chances. But this spray-and-pray approach to job hunting is a headache for hiring managers. Its driving the volume of applications up and the quality down, making it harder to spot great candidates. The natural knee-jerk reaction from HR is to start playing a game of I spy AI. If we can just root out the automated applications, we can keep it fair and find the genuine players, right? The problem is that this approach can give employers a false sense of security. Hiring teams assume that deploying AI detection tools means theyve solved the problem, and it stops them from digging deeper. Robust AI detection tools have a role to play in certain situations; and the tech that powers them is rapidly improving. But they should be just one tool, not the only tool, in hiring managers toolkits. If we want to hire the best humans, we need a deeper fix. We need to evolve our hiring processes, and this starts by removing the elements of the hiring process that AI can easily automate. CVs and cover letters are the worst offenders, and should have been scrapped long before the advent of ChatGPT. Research shows that the information they present, like names, pronouns, and career gaps, tells us very little about a candidates aptitude or skill. What they can do is trigger unconscious bias around what good looks like. AI CV screeners carry the same risks: Unless trained on ethical datasets, they can perpetuate historical inequalities. One solution is to switch up this process, introducing new ways to screen and assess candidates by objectively testing for role-relevant skills. A skills-based hiring process, which uses skills tests such as work samples and cognitive ability assessments, demands deeper engagement from candidates. This means that unless specifically designed to evaluate AI skills (which they can be), they tend to be harder for AI to game. Theyre also far better at predicting an applicants future performance than proxies on CVs, and can help tackle the application volume problem: The extra engagement that skills tests require is the antithesis of the spray and pray approach. It acts as a filter, with only those who feel invested in the role going on to apply. An honest, crystal-clear employer brand does something similar. It enables employers to attract fewer, but better-suited candidates. So, employers should ask themselves: Is it currently clear to candidates what you represent, how the team is structured and what benefits you offer? Do job seekers know whether your company is office based, hybrid, or remote? Being transparent on your company website, social media, and job adverts about the whole packageincluding salary expectationscan help narrow your candidate pool to applicants who want what the company offers. HR managers should also consider how else they can leverage AI to their advantage. There are plenty of ways it can support hiring teams beyond detecting candidates’ AI usage; for example, to help with accurate candidate scoring, automate interview scheduling, and analyse data to predict future job performance. Just be careful that the models youre using, particularly to screen candidates, arent trained on a singular image of success. Above all, its important to remember that even if we can catch AI-wielding applicants, are we sure using AI is a skill we want to penalise? Im not advocating for generic AI slop applications. But since approximately 30% of work activities could be automated as early as 2030, taking a leaf out of Anthropic’s book and testing applicants’ AI literacy as part of the hiring process for relevant roles is savvy. We may not be able to eliminate poor-quality AI applications altogether, but acting like detection is the sole solution to our broken hiring processes is a false economy. It risks blinding us to the deeper work that needs to be done to get hiring right. By establishing stronger, more targeted pipelines and robust assessment practices, hiring teams will be able to find and attract top talent with the skills needed to thrive in the modern world of work.
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E-Commerce
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