Illinois taxpayers are waiting longer than usual for their state income tax refunds.
Terry Horstman of the Illinois revenue department says the agency is working to fix the problem.
“As various tax schemes have been detected, we have tried to counter those schemes with additional software upgrades to our systems that help detect the fraudulent activity.”
Horstman says the time frame varies for each filer, and security software to prevent fraud is causing the delays.
"In the coming weeks we plan to make additional upgrades to our system that will further assist encountering fraud and help reduce tax return wait times for Illinois taxpayers."
Horstman recommends taxpayers protect their information to avoid fraud. He says filing online is the easiest and fastest way to receive tax returns and it can be tracked here.
The federal government estimates Illinois had about $30 million in fraudulent claims last year.
Copyright 2015 WNIJ Northern Public Radio
