New York tax officials stop suspicious refund claims

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York state tax officials say they stopped more than 330,000 suspicious refund claims this year.

The state Department of Taxation and Finance estimates that the halted refunds total about $480 million.

New York receives about 10 million personal income tax returns.

Tax officials rely on an analytics system that determines when to process a refund request and when it requires greater scrutiny. The system is designed to detect things like unwarranted deductions and business expenses.