The Tax Commission says it cannot verify data in reporting files following changes to Treasury systems. Officials have not disclosed the number or value of affected refunds.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Some Oklahoma taxpayers will have to wait longer for their state tax refunds because of system problems at the State Treasurer’s Office.
The Oklahoma Tax Commission has temporarily stopped issuing refunds and updating taxpayer account balances after it was unable to verify data in reporting files following changes to Treasury systems.
In response to questions from OK Politics Today, Tax Commission spokesperson Emily Haxton said Wednesday afternoon that the pause is intended to protect taxpayers and reduce the possibility of errors.
“This temporary delay prevents taxpayers from receiving inaccurate information about their account activity and helps the OTC minimize potential errors in the process,” Haxton said.
She said the Tax Commission is working closely with the Treasurer’s Office to resolve the problems and resume issuing refunds as quickly as possible.
The Treasurer’s Office disclosed the interruption Tuesday evening, saying problems were discovered during work to modernize statewide payment systems.
The Treasurer’s Office sits at the center of Oklahoma’s financial operations. It is responsible for receiving, depositing and disbursing all state funds. According to the office, more than $22 billion is deposited annually, and it processes approximately 8.4 million state warrants and 3.1 million electronic fund transfers each year.
The office said staff members discovered “isolated issues” and have been working around the clock to identify and correct them. The Treasurer’s Office said the interruption was expected to last “a very short period” but did not provide a date for payments to resume.
The interruption comes less than a month before the Oct. 15 deadline for taxpayers who received extensions to file their 2025 state income tax returns.
The agencies have not disclosed when refunds were paused, the number or total value of refunds being held, which types of refunds are affected or when normal processing is expected to resume.
OK Politics Today also asked the Treasurer’s Office what went wrong, whether any payments were duplicated, misdirected or issued incorrectly and whether payments beyond tax refunds are affected. The office had not responded as of 7:00 p.m. Wednesday.
