Alabama's Revenue Department slowed about 100,000 personal income tax refunds this year because of a new computer program designed to catch identity theft and tax fraud.
Revenue Commissioner Julie Magee says identity theft has become such a problem that her department used the program to watch for fraud clues. That means some taxpayers have waited longer than normal for their tax refunds and will be paid 3 percent interest as required by state law.
Magee tells al.com that she would rather pay interest to taxpayers than make payments to identity thieves.
The state owed nearly $19.9 million in refunds as of Wednesday and had more than 13,700 individual returns left to process. That compares to 1.85 million returns processed and more than 1 million refunds issued.