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Why Your State Income Tax Refund Is Slower Than Usual

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Your state tax refund could take longer to come in than usual. Security measures designed to prevent tax fraud are causing Illinois taxpayers to wait longer for their refund.

Terry Horstman of the Illinois Department of Revenue says the agency is working to fix the problem.

"As various tax schemes have been detected, we have tried to counter those schemes with additional software upgrades to our systems that help detect the fraudulent activity," Horstman said.

The federal government estimates Illinois had about $30 million in fraudulent claims last year.

Horstman recommends taxpayers protect their information to avoid fraud. He says filing online is the easiest and fastest way to receive tax returns.

Go to myrefund.illinoiscomptroller.com to track your refund.

Lisa Ryan is a graduate student in the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. She previously worked at Indiana Public Radio and the college radio station founded by David Letterman. She is a 2014 broadcast journalism and political science graduate of Ball State University.
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