The West Virginia Tax Dept. has not been swamped with state tax returns to this point.
State Revenue Secretary Charles Lorensen told members of the House of Delegates Finance Committee Thursday that as of Monday, Feb. 25, the dept. had processed 5,000 fewer returns than a year ago at this time but there is no delay in processing.
Sec. Lorensen says the delay is in the actual filing of the returns. He says you probably have to look no further than Congress for the reasons why.
“Given the fact of the fiscal cliff negotiations and the fact the feds would not accept returns for processing until Feb. 1—the behavior is probably pushed back in terms of filing,” Lorensen said.
The tax dept. expects to get a lot busier very soon.
“There will be a point, probably very soon, where there are backlogs in processing but for the most part there is no processing backlog,” according to Lorensen.
The state does have a Refund Reserve Account. Sec. Lorensen says it hasn’t been used so far.
“But that’s not necessarily going to be the case throughout the entire filing season,” he said.
State revenue collections continue to lag behind estimates. Lorensen says said they may miss the mark by as much as $45 million when the fiscal year ends June 30.