Minnesota no longer accepting TurboTax returns, citing potential fraud

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

published 6 February 2015

Due to worries about possible fraudulent activity, the Minnesota Department of Revenue will no longer accept tax returns from TurboTax.

The department said on Thursday that it did "not take this step lightly," CBS Minnesota reports. Two residents reported that they logged into TurboTax and saw that a return had already been filed in their name, and when the department looked at other returns filed using TurboTax, they found what they say was "potentially fraudulent activity."

"Our priority is maintaining the security of private taxpayer data and preventing fraudulent activity within our system," the department said in a statement. "We have sophisticated technology in place to safeguard private tax information." They also said that TurboTax is "one of the largest vendors that they see for individual income tax filing," and they are checking all of the 2,000 returns that have already been filed using the program.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.