BATON ROUGE — Louisiana taxpayers can start filing their 2015 individual income tax returns with the state on Jan. 19. But they can expect to wait a while for any refunds.
The state revenue department said Wednesday it will begin accepting and processing returns on the same day the IRS starts processing for federal individual income tax returns.
Louisiana’s revenue department has enhanced efforts to combat fraud in recent years, and the agency says it takes longer to process tax returns because of those initiatives.
People who file their tax returns electronically may have to wait up to two months to receive a refund. Those who file paper returns should expect a longer delay, three months or more.
The filing deadline for 2015 individual income tax returns is May 16.