IL Refunds For 2015 Delayed Until Mid-March 2016

On January 4, 2016, the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) announced tax refunds won’t be released until ‘2 to 3 weeks after March 1, 2016’ due to enhanced fraud prevention.

IDOR also said you can still file your IL tax return (both electronically and by paper) when you normally prepare your return and electronic filing is preferred, with direct deposit of any refunds into a checking or savings account.

Per the IDOR website (full release here):

“Fraud prevention measures implemented by the Department of Revenue during last year’s tax season resulted in an overall savings of nearly $5 million that would have, otherwise, been paid,” said Connie Beard, IDOR Director. “Our new security protocols proved very beneficial in detecting and stopping fraudulently filed returns last year, and we are continuing to enhance our fraud detection efforts this 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 the hands of criminals.”

You can always check the status of your refund on the IDOR website at: http://www.revenue.state.il.us/Individuals/Refunds.htm.

Check back form any updates as I’ll update this as information is released.