Officials with the Kentucky Department of Revenue are using safeguards to protect against growing concerns of fraud. Issues at the federal level earlier this year resulted in a break from processing state tax returns in Frankfort.
Revenue Spokeswoman Pamela Trautner says the department is undergoing intensified reviews called ‘fraud edits.’ “It’s to try to match up information that’s from the return to make sure that that taxpayer and that return clearly is from the taxpayer and not somebody who is trying to file fraudulently,” said Trautner.
Trautner says over one million state tax returns have been processed with $325 million returned to taxpayers. She says almost 99 percent have been filed electronically. That compares with about 85 percent for the filing period last spring. “We’ve actually seen a clear uptick in the e-filing,” she said. “Now, there are two weeks left so that percentage may come down a bit, but e-filing is still clearly winning out over the old paper filing.”
Taxpayers all across the country have a few extra days to file income tax returns this year. Trautner says the added time is due to an observance of Emancipation Day in the nation’s capital. “There is a local holiday in Washington D.C. and the federal government offices are closed,” Trautner said. “Therefore, Friday the 15th, they can’t process returns so people have three extra days to file their returns.”
The tax deadline this year is April 18.
