Louisiana attempting to recoup $26 million in accidental tax refunds

Maybe your tax refund is a lot smaller than you thought.

March 16, 2019, 4:17 AM

A number of Louisiana residents unhappy with their tax return are about to get even more mad.

The state announced that a computer error earlier this week accidentally gave some people double the refund they expected. And no, they will not get to keep it.

Louisiana officials have already begun recouping what amounted to $26 million in duplicate refunds.

A woman calculates her taxes in this undated stock photo.
STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images

Most accidental refunds will be recovered electronically, with banks withdrawing the direct deposits.

"There is no need for the taxpayers to take any action as the department works to recover the overpayment of funds directly from their bank accounts," Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said in a statement Friday. "With the cooperation of several financial institutions, the process is working."

According to the state, refunds that were processed correctly on March 12 were accidentally redeposited the following day. The mistake affected both direct deposit refunds and debit card refunds.

This photo shows multiple forms printed from the Internal Revenue Service web page that are used for 2018 U.S. federal tax returns.
AP

The error affected 66,700 individual taxpayers, according to a press release.

"If the state is unable to recover the refunds directly from the banking institutions, those taxpayers will receive a letter from the Department of Revenue with repayment instructions," the Division of Administration said in its release.

The state said it is "implementing procedures to prevent any recurrences" of the mistake.

ABC News' Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.

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