Treasury still reviewing 7% of tax returns with refunds
Treasury Department headquarters in Puerta de Tierra. (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
Puerto Rico Treasury Department officials confirmed Wednesday that the agency is still reviewing 7 percent of all tax returns claiming a refund this year, which may explain why thousands of taxpayers have yet to receive a check, News is my Business confirmed.
As of Tuesday, the agency had cut 870,594 tax refunds, for a total of $692 million, Acting Secretary of the Treasury Karolee García-Figueroa said.
“Of the total returns with refunds, an estimated 7 percent is under evaluation by the Treasury Department’s technical staff, since they contain errors, including dependent duplication, omission of information or discrepancies with the taxpayer’s income information reported to the IRS on W2 and 480 forms,” she said.
“According to the law, the Treasury Department can not process refund payments to taxpayers whose returns were filed with errors or omission of information until the discrepancies are cleared up by the taxpayer,” she said.
The majority of taxpayers whose returns are under review have received a letter informing them of the next steps they must take to correct or clarify the discrepancies in their returns.
As Treasury staff evaluates the forms containing mathematical errors or discrepancies, they will continue sending letters to taxpayers, the agency said.
For the 2011 taxable year this process of evaluating faulty tax forms ended in late September 2012. The Treasury Department expects to complete this process “as soon as possible,” the agency said in a release.
The agency had until July 31 to refund taxpayers who filed correct returns on time and mistake-free, which the Treasury Department said to have accomplished.
