Taxpayers who electronically file their Rhode Island personal income tax returns, and who have a balance due on April 15, have the option to pay that balance by arranging for a direct debit from their bank account. Late last week, as a result of a computer issue, the direct debit was mistakenly made twice for a small number of those taxpayers. Following is an update:
The Division of Taxation has completed the mailing of letters to all affected
taxpayers. "We completed the mailing on Wednesday," Rhode Island Tax Administrator David M. Sullivan announced. "Therefore, we are confident that many of the affected taxpayers have received their letters by now. Anyone who has not should receive theirs shortly," he said.
Sullivan also announced that a small number of affected taxpayers
have already recovered all of their funds because their banks, of their own
accord, reversed the unintended transactions. Because the banks were able to
reverse the transactions in a number of cases, the Division believes that the number
of affected taxpayers is now down to approximately
250.
"The Division has determined that all of
those approximately 250 taxpayers will receive their refunds by direct deposit,
not by paper check," Sullivan said. "Direct deposit is faster, and we want to get the taxpayers' money back into their hands as quickly as possible," he said.
"The refunds will process this weekend and direct deposits of the duplicated payments should be initiated on
Tuesday, April 28, for all the remaining taxpayers who were affected by this,"
Sullivan said. "Thus, the direct deposits should show up in the bank accounts of
affected taxpayers late Wednesday (April 29) or early Thursday (April 30),
depending on the receiving bank. The latest would be Friday," Sullivan said.
