USA Today Via CNBC Reports: Some taxpayers who filed their federal tax returns early this year will have to wait a week longer than initially projected to get their refunds.
The delay was caused by new safeguards installed in Internal Revenue Service computer systems to prevent refund fraud, IRS spokesman Michelle Eldridge says. The problem is limited to taxpayers whose returns were filed before Jan. 26. Taxpayers whose returns were accepted on or after that date will not be affected, Eldridge says.
For many early filers, even a one-week hold-up could present a serious hardship, says Andy Stadler, an enrolled agent in Terre Haute, Ind. He received a call on Friday from a client who was counting on her refund to pay her electric bill, and feared her power would be cut off before she got the money.
