Franchot also urges the public to be aware of scams targeted at taxpayers.
Annapolis, MD (KB) Comptroller Peter Franchot announced on Wednesday that more than 2 million tax returns have been processed in the State of Maryland.
“What’s significant is that this year, again, like last year, I gave a 90 day forbearance to all Maryland businesses and taxpayers,” he said. “Nonetheless, almost two-thirds of our taxpayers have already filed their tax returns, 1.4 million of them have gotten refunds.”
Franchot said some taxpayers have yet to file.
“The fact that a million plus have not filed means that people are smart — they’re trying to be careful,” “Many of the small businesses are saying, if we can just get into the summer season, maybe we’ll use some of this tax money to hire new people and be ready for that, and then we’ll get more revenue when the season opens up and we’ll be able to pay our taxes.”
Franchot said the Comptroller’s Office is operating on schedule despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Despite the virus and all the health issues and all of the economic consequences that have been negative, we’re still on track processing these returns,” he stated.
He also said Maryland taxpayers are being targeted in a fake collection agency scam.
“The current scam is they’re pretending to be the Comptroller’s Office and be a bill collection service for the Comptroller, and they’re asking people to send them money. Don’t do that,” said Franchot.
The Comptroller advised Marylanders how to protect themselves from scams.
“Call us, check with us, make sure that they can be verified,” he said. “You should never, never give your financial information out, you should never talk to someone over the phone about possibly sending money to someone or correcting some tax return.”
Franchot said the COVID-19 pandemic has opened a lot of doors for scammers.
“There’s an epidemic of the virus, there’s an epidemic of negative economic consequences, there’s also an epidemic of fraud in the country because there’s so much money involved in these relief plans and people are trying to take advantage of it,” explained Franchot.
The 2020 state income tax filing deadline is July 15th, 2021 in Maryland.