South Carolina Personal Income Tax Paper Check Refunds to be Issued for Certain Taxpayers

The Department of Revenue (DOR) has announced additional measures to help combat fraudulent tax returns and attempts to steal taxpayer tax refunds. The DOR is implementing enhanced measures including the conversion of some direct deposit refunds to paper checks. The targeted conversion of some refunds began last week, and affected taxpayers may expect to receive the paper check refund along with a letter of explanation from the DOR as early as this week. The DOR notes that some taxpayer refunds will be issued by paper check even if the taxpayer requested the refund by direct deposit. This means that the refund was part of a targeted group flagged as containing potentially fraudulent refunds. The receipt of a paper check instead of a direct deposit refund does not mean the taxpayer’s identity has been stolen/compromised. The DOR, however, does encourage taxpayers to take steps to protect themselves by signing up for identity protection available at no charge to eligible South Carolina taxpayers through the DOR website. If a taxpayer receives a paper check refund but has not yet filed a state tax return, the DOR asks the taxpayer not to cash the check, but instead call the DOR’s dedicated customer care line at (803) 898-7638 as soon as possible. The dedicated customer care line is staffed Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. (SCDOR Implements Additional Measures to Combat Fraud, S.C. Dept. of Rev., 03/02/2015.)