Special Form helps State Tax Filers Direct Refunds to Higher Education Savings and Open Oregon College Savings Plan Accounts

Higher education savings streamlined for Oregonians with new tax form

SALEM, Ore., March 11, 2021 – The Oregon College Savings Plan today announced the rollout of a new tax form that will streamline the process of saving for post-secondary education and job training for tax filers in Oregon. With the Oregon Department of Revenue’s OR-529 form, taxpayers can now elect to open an Oregon College Savings Plan account or deposit personal income tax refunds into preexisting Oregon College Savings Plan or MFS 529 Savings Plan accounts while filing their 2020 state tax returns.

“Saving for higher education and job training expenses is now as simple as checking a box on your tax return,” said Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read. “This will help make it easier for Oregonians to get the skills they need to reach their goals, and lessen the need to take on college debt.”

With this new option, individual taxpayers are able to deposit all or a portion of their refunds in up to four preexisting accounts. Deposits must be a minimum of $5 for the Oregon College Savings Plan and $25 for the MFS 529 Savings Plan. Tax refunds can only be deposited into preexisting Oregon College Savings Plan accounts, not those they have elected to set up on the form for the current tax year.

“We are pleased to be able to take the work out of starting the college savings journey for Oregonians,” said Michael Parker, Executive Director for the Oregon Treasury Savings Network. “Enabling taxpayers to set up their Oregon College Savings Plan account at tax time, when they already have all of their information in front of them, just makes sense. With this new form, we’ve simplified account setup and funding of existing accounts for our savers.”

Because creating a new Oregon College Savings Plan account is now connected to the tax filing process, only limited information is needed to fill in the gaps. Basic contact information for the taxpayer and the account beneficiary are nearly all that is required to get started.

The Oregon College Savings Plan had much to celebrate last year, bringing in over $255 million in contributions to almost 125,000 accounts across the state, ending the year with more than $2.5 billion in assets under management.