Amy Austin

Alabama income tax refunds are being processed as fast or faster than last year — except for the ones that are being delayed.

Most of the more than 1 million refunds are done automatically by machine, but because of the massive tax fraud in the area, more are being pulled out this year for human inspection, which delays their return.

But for people nervously watching their mailboxes waiting to receive a few more dollars to help with expenses or for summer vacations, Joe Garrett, the deputy commissioner for the department of revenue, says tax refunds are on their way — if they haven’t already arrived.

He said that most refunds have been paid and only a few remain.

“Well over 90 percent of refunds have been processed and paid,” Garrett said. “Most have been paid within a month to 6 weeks. Refunds that are taking longer are the ones that didn’t process automatically.”

The state has issued 1,027,304 refunds with a total of $462,133,098 through June 25. Almost all the refunds the department processes are processed automatically, which is what has slowed some of the returns down this year.

Garrett said that the department has processed these returns as quickly, if not more quickly, than last year, but this year more returns are being pulled for human inspection, which has slowed how quickly they are returned.

Garrett said the reason for this is because said the department is manually checking tax returns to limit refund fraud and ID theft.

“We heightened the parameters in the system to look for those two things,” Garrett said. “Different things are automatically looked for. Human beings look if something is flagged.

Garrett said the system allows people to file their returns online, or if people file paper returns, the department of revenue puts them into the information technology system.

While the returns are being processed, the automated system has certain information that it looks for. If the return is not flagged, the refund then is processed automatically. If the return is flagged for incorrect information, it then goes under manual review.

Although Garret said this year’s tax refunds are on schedule if not a little before schedule, he said the only problem slowing down refunds this year is manually checking.

“They’re close to being on the same time line as they are for most years,” Garrett said. “The one difference this year compared to prior years is that the department is stopping and manually reviewing more returns than they have in years in the past.”

When asked how the public is reacting to the pace of the refunds this year, Garrett said the department always hears from people who are concerned with their refunds and they understand peoples’ concern.

“Most people understand the issue from our direction and know we are trying to work through the refunds and check them out,” Garrett said. “We have not heard more this year than other years.”

Next year, in order to speed up income tax refunds, people can file their refunds earlier in the season such as the end of January. Another way to speed up the refund is by electronically submitting the form.

“If you file early and correctly, it should take less than two months,” Garrett said. “When you’re filing, if you file electronically, that helps us. It’s much less likely that there is a mistake on the return and it processes quicker.”