MONTGOMERY, Jan.
13, 2017 – Are you ready to file your income tax return? Tax Season 2017 begins
on Jan. 23, and the filing deadline this year is April 18. The Alabama
Department of Revenue (ADOR) has a few tips and suggestions to help you file
your return safely and get your refund as quickly as possible:
- FILE EARLY! As soon as a taxpayers
receive their W-2s, 1099s and other documents, they should file as soon as
possible. Filing early can help us get your refund approved earlier, plus
it enables you to beat ID thieves to the punch.
- SAFETY FIRST! ADOR plays an
important role in preventing state revenue and your money from ending up
in the hands of criminals. Fraud detection reviews, accuracy checks, and
matching against employer W2s does require a little extra time, but it
helps ensure that you get your money rather than criminals.
- WHERE’S YOUR REFUND? The Alabama
Department of Revenue will begin releasing 2016 income tax refunds on
March 1, 2017. This will give us time to properly vet and process the
returns of early filers, confirm the accuracy of legitimate returns, and
filter out fraudulent returns. The best way to track the progress of your
refund is our website My Alabama Taxes (www.myalabamataxes.alabama.gov).
It’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you don’t have
internet access, you can track your refund progress by calling our
automated refund system toll‐free at 1-855-894-7391 or our
call center at 1-800-535-9410.
- TAKE A SELFIE – COMING SOON! Want
to speed up your refund AND protect your identity? You will soon be able
to download the new Alabama eID mobile app, powered by MorphoTrust USA.
Using a smart phone, you will easily enroll by scanning your driver’s
license, taking a selfie and following the guided process in the app. The
photo and driver’s license data will be compared to the driver’s license
database and authenticated by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to verify
your identity. With the eID verified, you can go to My Alabama Taxes (www.myalabamataxes.alabama.gov)
to enroll in the “Opt-In” program. This program will notify you when a
return is filed with the department by sending a notification through your
eID app. The app will allow you to securely verify that you did file the
return or decline the transaction because you did not file the return. BONUS
– your eID-verified return will be processed more quickly!
- FILE FOR FREE! You can file state
returns for free using My Alabama Taxes. Filing returns will require you
to sign up for a MAT username to access your income tax account, file your
return and make payments. Sign up for MAT at www.myalabamataxes.alabama.gov.
- KEEP IN TOUCH! After your return
is filed, we may send you letters asking for more information. If you do
receive a letter from us, you should respond quickly so we can review your
information and get your refund to you as soon as possible.
- Fraud Detection.
To detect and combat tax identity theft, ADOR uses a variety of methods
to validate your identity and tax return. To help protect your
information and keep your dollars from going to criminals, we may send:
- An Identity Confirmation letter that asks you to take a
short online quiz or provide copies of documents to verify your identity
(http://revenue.alabama.gov/idquiz/)
- A return verification letter that asks you to verify
online whether you or your representative filed the tax return we
received
- Accuracy Checks.
We stop and review about 3 to 5 percent of individual income tax returns
each year to resolve mathematical errors or request missing information.
We want to be sure that your tax return correctly reflects your
information and intent. To do this, we may send:
- A Request for Information letter that asks for missing
or additional information to support data reported on your tax return
- A Tax Computation Change letter that provides an
explanation of changes that were made to your tax return
- HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE? The date
your return is filed and how your return is filed largely determines when
the refund can be issued. For example, electronically filed returns are
received and processed significantly faster than returns that are mailed
to ADOR. Also, if an error-free return is mailed in January or February,
the taxpayer can expect to receive their refund sooner than if the return
is filed in March or April. Last year, 20 percent of the income tax
returns filed were received between April 1 and April 18. Returns filed
this close to the deadline may require as many as 90 days to process.
- First‐time filers: It will
take additional time for new filers to be validated and entered into our
system. Until that time, our Refund Status website won't recognize these
taxpayers and will report their returns as "not entered in
system."
- E‐filers: Generally, e‐filers
can expect their refund about 8‐10 weeks after the date they
receive their filing acknowledgement from the state.
- Paper filers:
The return will take about 10‐12 weeks to process. We must
manually enter information from paper returns into our database.
- If the taxpayer received a letter from us asking for more
information or to verify identity, the refund will be delayed until we
get the requested information and we've been able to review it.
- STAY INFORMED! Keep up-to-date
with the latest ADOR news:
For more
information about Individual Income Tax returns, visit http://revenue.alabama.gov/incometax/2016itforms.cfm.
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___________________________________________________________
Media contact for more information:
ADOR
Communications/Publications Division
Frank.miles@revenue.alabama.gov
Amanda.collier@revenue.alabama.gov
Telephone:
334-242-1390; FAX: 334-242-0550
Website: http://www.revenue.alabama.gov/