Last
week the Internal Revenue Service warned that tax refunds could be delayed a
week this tax season because of new anti-fraud safeguards.
“The
IRS has opened its filing season successfully this month, and refunds have started
going out to many taxpayers,” the agency said in an email to tax professionals.
“As with the start of any tax season, there are system validations that occur
requiring some fine-tuning of our systems. As part of this, some taxpayers will
receive refunds approximately one week later than initial projections they may
have received, but these are still in line with historical refund delivery
times.”
The
IRS noted that the one-week delay is related to the fine-tuning of IRS systems
to adjust for new safeguards that were put in place this tax season to provide
for stronger protection against tax refund fraud. The agency has come under
heavy criticism for the increasing number of identity theft cases related to
tax refunds, and it recently added more stringent measures.
The
IRS said it is providing additional screening for fraud this year before
issuing refunds, but the vast majority of taxpayers can still continue to
expect to receive their refunds in a timely fashion.
The
IRS also noted that the refund time frames provided by the “Where’s My Refund” tool on its Web site
are projected time frames and are subject to revision. “Many different factors
can affect the timing of the refund after the IRS receives the return for
processing,” said the agency. “The IRS apologizes for any inconvenience caused
by the revised refund dates.”
The
IRS promised that the delay only affects some early filers, and taxpayers whose
returns were accepted by the IRS on or after January 26 would not experience
the delay.
