JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Revenue on Thursday announced that it is on pace to issue all refund checks a month sooner than in 2017.
Looking at the final numbers for the 2018 tax season, Director Joel Walters said the department has already processed over 3 million returns, issued 1.8 million refunds, and says that the remaining refund checks “will be heading out the door shortly.”
“The Department of Revenue has made an earnest effort these last months to be more open and transparent about the tax return and refund payment process,” Walters said. “Employees at all levels have worked incredibly hard throughout the entire 2018 tax season to reverse the trends we’ve seen in prior years, which left Missouri taxpayers feeling frustrated and confused.”
As of Wednesday, there were 1,091 individual income tax and property tax credit (PTC) refunds pending, totaling about $1.1 million. In comparison, on May 30, 2017, the Department had 434,324 refunds pending, totaling about $199.7 million.
The news comes nearly one year after State Auditor Nicole Galloway announced her intent to audit the state’s tax return process, which requires the returns to be sent out within 45 days of the filing.
Galloway to audit Dept. of Revenue’s issuing of tax refunds as part of Budget Integrity Series
Months after that, in June of 2017, Galloway called on the Department to issue tax returns that were due on June 2, due to the April 18 filing deadline.
“Over the last six weeks, more than 1,000 Missourians have contacted my whistleblower hotline seeking information on the status of their tax refund. They report long wait times, disconnected calls, the inability to speak to a representative when seeking status information on their refunds, and receiving a refund after 45 days without receiving interest. Missourians are becoming understandably frustrated by the delay and I urge the Department of Revenue to take all necessary steps to complete refund processing as quickly as possible,” Auditor Galloway said in a June 6th statement.
Since then, the Department has worked to address concerns, as well as improve the process.
One potential solution proposed in Gov. Eric Greitens’ budget plan had been to take out a $250 million loan to pay tax returns on time. House and Senate leadership shot that idea down very quickly, but the Department looked to other means of streamlining the tax process.
Fitzpatrick shoots down Greitens’ budget proposal for tax anticipation loans
In addition to more closely analyzing the Taxation Division’s call center data to better track and react to customer issues, the Department launched a new version of the Missouri Return Inquiry System that allows customers to sign up to receive text and email alerts each time the status of their state tax return is updated. More than 50,200 taxpayers had subscribed to the service as of Wednesday.
“Heading into the 2018 tax season, we knew that things needed to change from how they were in previous years. Our customers deserved better, and that’s exactly what we set out to give them. Implementing new processes and procedures didn’t happen without some growing pains. Yet looking back over these last five months, and the cold hard numbers, I’m very proud of what’s been achieved,” Walters said in a statement. “We’re still focusing every day on becoming the best Department of Revenue we can be. Although our work will never be done, real progress has been made. Our outstanding employees and leadership team deserve a great deal of credit for leading the charge when it comes to transforming how our state government operates and, most importantly, putting our citizens first.”
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
