Montana Department of Revenue expands service as tax deadline approaches

From Montana Department of Revenue

HELENA — The Montana Department of Revenue is offering expanded hours at its call center to assist taxpayers during the days before the April 15 deadline for filing income tax returns.

Taxpayers who need assistance can call the department’s call center toll free at 866-859-2254, or in Helena at 406-444-6900. Regular call center hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call center hours will be extended during the last days of tax season. Beginning Saturday, April 11, help will be available from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m .; on Monday, April 13 and Tuesday, April 14, hours will be 7 a.m. until 7 p.m .; and on Wednesday, April 15, hours will be 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.

The department strongly encourages taxpayers to file their taxes electronically.

“It takes a great deal of time, resources and taxpayer money for the department to process paper returns,” says Revenue Director Mike Kadas. “But when people e-file their returns, we have those returns in our system automatically, which equates to saving time and money. Plus, taxpayers get their refunds much sooner than if they filed by paper.”

Taxpayers can file electronically using the department’s e-filing service, Taxpayer Access Point, known as TAP, or one of the many commercial e-filing products. For electronic filing options, visit http://wwwrevenue.mt.gov and click Online Services.

Some refunds are taking longer this year due to extra security and review procedures following an increase in fraudulent tax return filings. Since this tax season opened Jan. 20, the department has blocked 766 fraudulent returns totaling $840,929.

The department has processed more than 317,333 individual income tax returns so far for the 2014 tax year. These numbers include both electronic and paper returns. The department has issued 257,892 refunds averaging $417 for a total of $107,661,108. To check the status of their refunds, taxpayers are encouraged to go online to the Department of Revenue website at http://revenue.mt.gov and visit Where’s My Refund under Taxpayer Access Point.

In addition to calling the department call center, taxpayers can also receive assistance by visiting the Mitchell Building in Helena, 125 North Sanders, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customer parking is on the building’s east side. Assistance is also available at the department’s offices in Missoula at 2681 Palmer Street. If taxpayers need help filing electronically, they can prepare their state income tax return on paper and take it to the office. There, we’ll help them e-file at no cost. So far this year, the department has helped several hundred taxpayers who visited these two offices.

There are also more than 100 volunteer tax preparation sites around the state through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and AARP Tax-Aide Montana. To find out if you qualify and to see a list of locations, visit http://www.montanafreefile.org. Taxpayers can also use an authorized tax preparer for assistance. For more information, visit http://www.revenue.mt.gov.

April 15 is also the deadline for submitting an application for various tax relief options. The Property Tax Assistance Program gives property tax relief to qualified low-income homeowners. The 2EC is an income tax credit for elderly homeowners and renters. The applications are available online at http://www.revenue.mt.gov under Forms, Property Tax and Individual Income Tax.