ATLANTA — The head of the Georgia Department of Revenue said the agency tried to head off a computer glitch that removed tax refunds from the bank accounts of more than 31,000 taxpayers over the weekend before the payments were processed.
Commissioner Doug MacGinnitie said the department issued about $12 million in tax refunds on Thursday, but quickly realized that they had paid out about $633,000 too much.
At that point, the department attempted to reverse the payment and thought it had stopped the deposits from being made. On Monday, the department realized the payments had been processed and reversed, leaving many Georgians facing bank fees for overdrawn accounts.
"In order of attacking the problem we want to first get our taxpayers back their money. Second, put them in the position they should have been in, and third, we'll start worrying about how it happened and make sure it doesn't happen again," said MacGinnitie.
Channel 2 Action News has talked to more than a dozen taxpayers who saw the refunds credited, then reversed. Some people said they face hundreds of dollars in late fees and bank overdraft charges.
MacGinnitie said the Revenue Department is reprocessing the tax refunds as quickly as possible and is working with the banks of affected taxpayers to waive overdraft fees.
"I cannot address any one individual, but I do know that we have started the reprocessing today. We will do that as quickly as possible. The hope of the department and the work plan is to get it done in the next few days, but I cannot give you a specific time frame," MacGinnitie told Channel 2's Linda Stouffer.
"The Department takes this matter seriously and would like to apologize to all affected taxpayers," MacGinnitie said.
The Revenue Department suggests affected taxpayers print out the letter on their website to show their banks or creditors.
A spokesman for Wells Fargo said their bank would refund any bank charges that occurred because of the issue. Customers need to visit their local branch to get any fees refunded.