In response to the recent increase and still unfolding developments centered around fraudulent tax returns filed across the country, the Louisiana Department of Revenue says it’s taking extra precautions to verify filings and will need to extend the date it begins issuing refunds by one week, until the week of March 2.
As The Shreveport Times reports, the extended period will provide the department with more time to closely review returns and to utilize its identification verification process for individual taxpayers when and if inconsistencies in returns are identified.
While identity-based tax refund fraud is still a relatively new problem for revenue departments in the 43 states where taxpayers file tax returns, the state Department of Revenue says it is ahead of the curve. Over the past two years, the department says it has prevented over $11 million in fraudulent tax refunds from going out the door. Also, through a joint anti-fraud initiative with the state Attorney General’s office, 40 people have been arrested for fraudulent activity.
“We recognize that this situation places an undeserved burden on the thousands of taxpayers who consistently do the right thing,” Barfield says of the delayed returns. “It is unfortunate that at this time the good taxpayers will suffer for those who have chosen to be criminals. This is the very reason why the Department of Revenue must do all that we can to safeguard our taxpayers against this type of fraudulent activity.”
LDR began accepting returns on Jan. 20, and was originally scheduled to begin issuing returns on Tuesday. To date, the department says it has received 664,956 electronic returns. On average, the department processes 1.9 million electronic returns during the tax filing season. The backlog of refund requests received is expected to take a week to complete processing. Normal processing times are 21 days for electronic returns and 10 weeks for paper returns. Read the full story.
