More than 20 million phone calls have been logged by California’s Middle Class Tax Refund debit card vendor since the payment distribution began last fall.

The Money Network data is divided between two phone numbers, one for frequently asked questions (800-542-9332) and the other (800-240-0223) for debit card activation and replacement of lost or stolen cards.

Since November, many readers have shared with us their “agonizing” time stuck in Money Network’s phone tree, calling it “unacceptable,” “beyond frustrating” and “a debacle.”

“I have had the pleasure of wasting my time calling the Money Network to finally get to a human who is absolutely no help!” reader Tina wrote us, quite sarcastically.

Our suggestion this week: If you’re still struggling to find your Middle Class Tax Refund, try getting up close and personal with the Franchise Tax Board.

The agency operates several “field offices” where taxpayers can book appointments for help with their taxes, payments and refunds.

Several readers who have reached out (all of them at their wit’s end about their missing payments) found some form of resolution after contacting their Franchise Tax Board field office.

One reader who landed an appointment Thursday exclaimed via text: “A real person, even before I could get my earbuds in!”

Those numbers are:

Los Angeles: 213-897-5196

Santa Ana: 714-558-4505

San Diego: 619-688-2550

Oakland: 510-622-4693

Sacramento: 916-227-6822Numbers » Page 13

Most of the payments, specifically 9.4 million, went out as debit cards. The state, which publishes a running tally of the distribution at ftb.ca.gov, says 79% of cards issued worth a combined $4.13 billion have been activated and 28% of them now have a zero balance. Money Network reports $1.43 billion have been “used” or withdrawn from the debit cards.

The IRS last week said it would not tax California’s inflation refund payments nor those of 17 other states with similar programs in 2022. The agency said that after a review, it determined it “would not challenge the taxability of payments related to general welfare and disaster relief.”

The state previously stated it would not tax the refund.

Where’s my money?

Meanwhile, misery persists for those who are still waiting.

Michael and Heidi Pahls are among those who haven’t received their payment. After repeated calls to the state’s hotline and the Money Network, Michael finally opted to make an appointment at his field office in San Diego.

“Tanya,” he said, was able to track down their payment, which had been summarily tossed by the state after its algorithm assumed that because the Pahls do some business in Kansas that meant they had moved.

Why a qualifying taxpayer had to do so much legwork to track down a promised inflation refund infuriated the Pahls.

“The vagueness and inability to contact anyone in regards to the monies due us, seems standard practice by the state of California,” Michael wrote. “Suspending the gas tax/cap and trade would have been a much better solution. But when has common sense ever been the mantra in Sacramento?”

For some, tracing the refund became a bit of a household game of whack-a-phone-tree.

George Burchfiel and his wife, Sue, tag-teamed early morning phone calls to the Franchise Tax Board and Money Network.

Both spent time on hold before a rep at the FTB told George Burchfiel their payment had been issued in October for a direct deposit. The money never landed, thanks to “mislabeling.”

“She assured us we would receive a new card within 2 weeks,” he told us via email. “Yay? Should I now stop howling like a dog waiting for a scrap? Perhaps.”

Phone tree insights

If you’ve waited on hold for an agent or stumbled around hitting numbers in the Money Network phone tree, you were not alone.

The vendor’s phone system logged 1.3 million calls in just seven days for the week ending Feb. 11.

The breakdown shows 95,000 calls went to its FAQ line and 1.2 million calls to the activation and lost/stolen number. We’ll note that the activation line is also the number taxpayers call to ask “where’s my money?”

The activation line also shows a 94% “self-service rate,” a calculation of callers who were able to get some form of resolution to their questions without agent assistance, the FTB told us. The self-service rate for the FAQ line was not so successful, logging a 74% rate for the week and program to date.

The FTB will release the latest distribution numbers Wednesday.

A reminder: Because of storms across the state, California taxpayers got an extension from the IRS to file their federal returns by May 15, instead of mid-April. This extension applies to 2022 individual income tax returns due April 18, as well as 2022 business returns typically due March 15 and April 18.

As we’ve noted in previous stories, please keep us posted on your tax refund progress. Email sgowen@scng.com.