Revenue Department Blocks 188 Fraudulent State Tax Returns

HELENA — The state Revenue Department has processed more income tax returns so far this year, compared to the same time a year ago.

Workers are also being more aggressive in flagging returns for extra scrutiny as the agency tries to prevent catch fraudulent returns.

The agency said Wednesday it has processed more than 244,000 returns since Jan. 19 and has issued more than 204,000 refunds that average $403. That’s compared to processing 232,000 returns and issuing 195,000 refunds averaging $406 last year.

So far this year, the department has blocked 188 fraudulent returns seeking a total of $220,245 in refunds. Others are still under scrutiny because of inconsistencies with a previous year’s return. At this point a year ago, the state had blocked 529 fraudulent returns seeking nearly $583,000 in refunds.

Don’t worry, we’ll always be free.

But continued community support is what makes our reporting possible. Please consider a one-time or recurring gift to help sustain independent journalism in northwest Montana. Every donation is injected straight into the newsroom.

Thanks so much for backing us over all these years.

I’ll Support Your Work