Resident Alaskan,s who have been here for a full year and meet other eligibility requirements, can now begin signing up for this year Permanent Fund.

The sign-up period for this year’s distribution is available from January 1st until March 31st. Alaskans can sign up using the paper form or do so online.

Last year, eligible Alaskans received $1,884. This amount was more than twice as much as was received by Alaskans the year before.

Alaskans will have to wait for about nine months to find out what the actual amount of this year’s dividend will be, that announcement is usually made by Alaska’s governor, or the state’s revenue commissioner in the month of September.

In addition to being a full-year resident in the state, Alaskans must not:

1. have been sentenced for a felony conviction in the qualifying year, or,
2. have been incarcerated in the state as a result of  a felony conviction, or,
3. be incarcerated for a misdemeanor if that individual has been convicted of a prior felony as defined in AS 11.81.900 ; or two or more prior misdemeanors as defined in AS 11.81.900.

The state comes up with each year’s dividend by adding the fund’s current statutory income, along with the previous four years, and multiplying that number by 21%. That number is divided by 2, then the prior year’s obligations, PFD program operations and expenses are subtracted and then that number is divided again by the number of eligible applicants.

The first dividend issued by the permanent fund was an even $1,000 in 1982. The dividend would not reach or surpass that amount again until 1996. The check amounts would continue to increase until 2000 when checks almost reached the $2,000 mark. After that point, checks would decline in value and falling below the $1,000 mark in 2004 until it achieved that mark again in 2006. Checks would fall below the $1,000 mark in 2012 and 2013.

The lowest amount paid out to eligible Alaskans came in 1984, when checks only totaled $331. The highest was in 2008 when that check was worth $2,069. But, that amount was bolstered by an additional $1,200 from the state’s budget surplus, bringing the check total to $3,269.

  application, dividends, permanent fund