7 On Your Side: Tax refund frustrations

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- By now, most people have received their tax refund from last year, but a single mom in New Jersey has been waiting on a big refund she says is lost in bureaucratic black hole.

Authorities say 50,000 tax refund checks were held back by the state in an effort to combat fraud the very real threat of identity theft, but Tara Nacca says she kept sending and resending her paperwork while the state sat on a fat check.

Every day for the last five months, Nacca has been waiting for the $9,300 refund she is owed.

"Here they are, sitting on my money, collecting interest, of which I would have gotten if it was in my bank," she said. "So it's aggravating. You can't get a straight answer."

Her accountant filed her tax return electronically back in February, and then she got a notification on April 13, two days before the filing deadline.

"All they wanted was a paper copy of my W-2, which they had already electronically," Nacca said.

So she printed another copy and sent it off.

"I sent it certified," she said. "So they couldn't tell me they didn't receive it."

It was a smart move, and the letter was signed for April 21.

"After this was signed for in Trenton, what happened to it?" Nacca said. "Nothing. It went into a black hole."

Each time, she says she got a different story. But she says the bottom line is that nobody knew where it was, and she says her accountant was told that there were thousands of people in the state in the same position.

After months of trying to get her money and an answer, the single mom had enough. She got 7 On Her Side.

We called the New Jersey Division of Taxation, and for the third time, Tara was asked to send her paperwork again.

"I was aggravated," she said.

But the third time was the charm.

"So this time, the check really was in the mail," she said. "It actually was."

She was able to deposit $9,324 into her account, just in time to help her plan summer vacation with her daughter.

"Thank you," she said. "Without you, I would never gotten my money, I'm convinced of that."

According to New Jersey's Division of Taxation, about 6,000 refund checks are still being held back, subject to investigation. As for Tara's missing W-2, a rep recently called her saying it had been lost. That's why it was very important she sent a copy back certified, a must-do for important time-sensitive paperwork.

ROB?