This year’s tax refunds are coming late for some

Filing taxes can be tough and confusing for just about everyone, and it’s especially tough to keep up with the new laws affecting you specifically.

In Melissa Hartman’s case, a slight change in the law has set the Redmond woman back financially. She just got word that her tax refund might not come in for another few months.

“Waiting an additional 12 to 26 weeks for our taxes to be returned, especially right now — we’ve been hit so hard with the weather here in Central Oregon,” Hartman said. “It’s put a lot of families behind.”

She brought up one of her friends, who is on the verge of losing her home because she hasn’t yet gotten her tax refund.

Hartman has the U.S. Constitution framed on her wall, but she believes everyone is not being treated equally — single mothers are being singled out, and that’s why her refund is late.

A tax expert said there’s lots of misinformation going around about why refunds are being held up.

“It’s not a discrimination issue,” H&R Block senior tax analyst Roy Erberich said. “It’s just the way that it winds up working, and it’s for everybody’s protection.”

The government is taking more time to review tax returns, ensuring it’s among those being protected.

“The federal government loses so much money due to identity theft,” Erberich said. “People filing fraudulent tax returns, using other names, Social Security numbers, and getting all this free money.”

The government stands to potentially save a lot of money with this law.

“Making them wait until after the 15th of February to actually receive any of this refundable money is hopefully going to save the government millions, if not billions, of dollars,” he said.

For a more in-depth look at how this affects Oregonians, check out this link: PDF: http://www.oregon.gov/newsroom/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?newsid=1488