Question: What is happening with my state tax refund? I filed in February and got my federal return within a week. When I first checked online with the Department of Taxation, it said there would be an eight-week delay. Later, the website said a 10- to 14-week delay. Then it went back to eight weeks. But I still haven’t received my refund.
Question: My tax return was accepted by the state electronically two months ago. Any way to check when refunds will be mailed out? This is beyond ridiculous!
Question: Can you please find out why it is taking so long for us to receive our state tax refunds? I heard it would take 10-12 weeks to process since they have a new system. Is that correct? I tried calling several times a day for two weeks but was placed on hold for 10-20 minutes until a recorder came on, saying, "Due to the high volume of calls, we are unable to take your call at this time." The website does not indicate any status or whether there were any deficiencies holding up the process. It is frustrating! I filed my taxes in early February.
Answer: As of this week the Department of Taxation is advising taxpayers to check their refund status 16 weeks after mailing or e-filing returns. (See tax.ehawaii.gov/hoihoi/refund.html.)
If you don’t receive your refund by July 20, you may be entitled to an interest payment.
If a refund is not paid within 90 days of the due date of the tax return or the date the tax return is filed — whichever is later — interest will be paid to the taxpayer, said Maria Zielinski, the state tax director.
The interest, which wouldn’t start accruing until July 20, would be paid at the rate of one-third of 1 percent each month or 4 percent annually from July 20, she said.
The backlog is the result of the department screening and reviewing every refund claim for possible fraud, a procedure that was instituted last year, as we explained previously: bit.ly/ 1H4v0Xd.
As of Tuesday the department had processed 543,488 returns for the tax year 2014, and 299,087 of them were claims for a refund, according to Taxation Department spokeswoman Mallory Fujitani.
That means nearly 300,000 returns undergoing added scrutiny.
"Unfortunately, the issue of tax fraud is very real, and the additional scrutiny of refund requests is prudent and necessary to protect our state’s taxpayers," Fujitani said.
Zielinski further explained, "While we do screening and review of all refund requests, the extent of the screening will depend upon several different factors. For security reasons, we cannot provide further detail."
Fujitani apologized for the confusing refund messages.
As of last week both phone and website messages had been updated "to eliminate any confusion we may have caused," she said.
REFUND PROCESS
Fujitani noted that the "vast majority" of returns are still filed in paper form.
Paper-filed tax returns can take up to four to six weeks to process, depending on when the return was filed, she said.
But for all returns involving refunds, the processing time now has to include the time necessary to review for fraud, as well as the time needed by the Department of Accounting and General Services to issue payments, she said.
Thus, while the processing of a tax refund will take a minimum of four to six weeks, the total time for a refund to reach a taxpayer could be up to 16 weeks, Fujitani said.
"We ask that taxpayers allow us sufficient time for processing" before checking on the status of returns and refunds through the department’s call center (587-4242) or website (tax.hawaii.gov).
MAHALO
To "Baymax." I somehow lost my vehicle registration certificate in a handicap parking stall at Don Quijote in early April. A very kind person found it and was so nice to mail it to me. There was no return address on the envelope, and he just signed "Baymax." I want to say a thousand mahalos to him. — Lilli
Write to "Kokua Line" at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
