Illinois taxpayers will have to wait until after March 1 to receive individual income tax refunds, the state Department of Revenue said Monday.

The department said the delay is part of its ongoing efforts to crack down on fraud and not the result of the budget impasse that has left the state without a spending plan for this fiscal year.

“By delaying tax refunds by just a few weeks, we’ll be able to better detect attempts at identity theft and ensure taxpayer refunds do not fall needlessly into hands of criminals,” state Revenue Director Connie Beard said in a statement.

The announcement means a significant number of Illinois taxpayers could be affected. In 2014, the year before the state began implementing new security measures that delayed refunds, more than 1.3 million returns were filed in January and February that entitled filers to income tax refunds. Those refunds would be delayed this year. The state processes more than six million individual returns.

Beard said fraud-prevention measures implemented last year resulted in saving nearly $5 million that otherwise would have been paid. Revenue spokesman Terry Horstman said the number reflects that the state has been cracking down on fraud for a while.

“Illinois has been pretty proactive regarding this issue of fraud prevention,” he said. “Other states might just now be getting into this.”

People who file electronic returns prior to March 1 should see refunds within two to three weeks after March 1, the department said. For returns submitted after March 1, the department said refunds would be issued within two to three weeks after the return is submitted, assuming it does not contain any errors.

The department said filing returns electronically and requesting direct deposit of any refunds is still the quickest way to receive a refund.

Tax refunds are not subject to appropriations by the General Assembly and thus are not affected by the legislature’s failure to enact a budget so far this fiscal year.

-- Contact Doug Finke: doug.finke@sj-r.com, 788-1527, twitter.com/dougfinkesjr.