Maryland Comptroller systems restored after outage that caused tax processing delays
BALTIMORE -- The Internal Tax Processing System at the Maryland Comptroller's Office has been restored after a weeklong outage that caused delays in processing tax returns, refund requests and direct debit requests, the office said.
The office could not access its online systems, so workers could not answer specific questions about the tax returns or refund status of residents.
As a result, tens of thousands of income tax returns were delayed because they could not be processed.
"Our staff is processing tax returns, refund requests, and direct debit requests and is working expeditiously through the week-long backlog," Comptroller Brooke Lierman said in a statement. "We expect to be fully up-to-date in processing requests by Wednesday, March 22."
Lierman said a data filing system got too full and it temporarily shut down a key part of the tax filing process.
It took more than a week to get it back up and running. This system is described as a digital filing cabinet.
The comptroller said if you filed during that time period, your tax returns are in the system being processed.
"But absolutely people are working overtime now to make sure that we can catch up," Lierman said. "You know, we're on the phones tax processing or tax payer assistance agents are on the phones from 8:30 am to 6 p.m., taking calls from people, answering emails. But at the end of the day, we want to make sure that we're making this an easier experience for Marylanders."
The comptroller reiterate that this was not a cyberattack.
The comptroller's office used the issue as an opportunity to emphasize modernization efforts.
"This systems outage highlights the need for the Office of the Comptroller to modernize and update our legacy IT systems – some decades old – in order to improve the services offered by our agency, a key recommendation of the my Transition Team," Lierman said.
For more information, visit the website of the Comptroller's Office.
