TurboTax, the country's most popular do-it-yourself tax preparation software, halted the processing of state tax returns for about 24 hours because of a spike in fraudulent filings. 
 
 State agencies have reported a rise in filings with stolen personal information, said Intuit, the company behind TurboTax. 
 
 Minnesota revenue officials said Thursday that they had stopped accepting online tax returns from TurboTax after hearing evidence of potential fraud from Minnesota taxpayers. 
 
 Most victims found out that a fraudulent tax return was submitted in their name when they received a rejection notice after filing their returns, said Intuit spokeswoman Julie Miller. 
 
 There haven't been issues with federal returns to date because the IRS has implemented stronger fraud detection policies, Miller said. 
 
 Intuit said it resumed filing of state returns about 6 p.m. Eastern time Friday with increased fraud protections, a day after it halted them. 
 
 A Minnesota resident who contacted the Pioneer Press on Friday said she ran into problems filing her federal return. 
 
 Several hours after she filed her TurboTax return online, she received an error message from TurboTax saying the IRS had rejected it. 
 
 The woman said she called the IRS and spoke to a man who asked for detailed information, including her husband's Social Security number and birth date. 
 
 Once the representative seemed satisfied she was who she claimed to be, he informed her that someone had filed a return using her Social Security number. 
 
 "You have fraud," the IRS representative told her. 
 
 The representative had her fill out an affidavit attesting to her identity and send the tax forms by mail, along with copies of her Social Security card and driver's license. 
 
 The woman said she mailed the same documentation - including the affidavit - to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, though she never spoke with them. 
 
 "I sent in returns for my daughter, son, nephew, and husband, and all were accepted just fine," she added. "I don't know if it was TurboTax that was the problem." 
 
 The woman noted that she was a customer of health insurance giant Anthem Inc., whose client data recently was breached on a massive scale. Representatives said hackers gained access to the Social Security numbers, names, addresses and other personal information of about 80 million people. 
 
 Intuit is working with security company Palantir to investigate the problem. 
 
 So far, there has been no security breach of its systems, Intuit said. Instead, it believes personal information was stolen elsewhere and used to file returns on TurboTax. 
 
 Miller linked the problem to recent security breaches at large companies. Aside from Anthem, there have been security breaches at JPMorgan Chase and several retailers, including Home Depot and Target. 
 
 "You have a pretty rich pool of data out there in the world," Miller said. 
 
 Intuit said state tax returns already filed when the halt began Thursday will be transmitted as soon as possible. 
 
 TurboTax set up a hotline for Minnesotans concerned about their returns at 800-944-8596. After a 72-minute wait on the company's "identity protection line," a TurboTax representative explained that the filing pause for Minnesota state tax returns should end in "a few days" and that state tax officials have to approve lifting the pause. 
 
 The representative said the pause affects only returns that already have been filed. Any returns filed after the pause won't be processed until it is lifted. 
 
 Minnesota revenue officials flagged several thousand returns that had used TurboTax in order to review them. The TurboTax representative said if the state reviews a return, the filer can expect their refund "in full," but likely later than those not selected for review. 
 
 On a conference call Thursday night, state revenue officials said the department's databases have not been breached and a "robust fraudulent protection system is in place." 
 
 TurboTax processed 30 million tax returns last year, Miller said. 
 
 Rival H&R; Block Inc., which also sells tax preparation software, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. 
 
 Another tax preparer, Liberty Tax Inc., said it is letting TurboTax customers file state returns for free at its more than 4,000 locations around the country. 
 
 Pioneer Press staff writers Tad Vezner and Joseph Lindberg contributed to this report. Vezner can be reached at 651-228-5461 or follow him on Twitter @SPnoir. 

 Minnesota has stopped accepting tax returns filed through TurboTax, a popular tax preparation software, because of possible fraudulent activity. 
 
 Just as tax season is ramping up, Revenue Department officials made the urgent announcement late Thursday after two taxpayers reported that they had logged into Intuit’s TurboTax to file but were advised a return had already been filed. Because it could indicate fraud, state officials are blocking new TurboTax returns from coming in. They also are reviewing a “couple of thousand” returns that have already been filed using TurboTax. 
 
 “If we identify a problem, we will contact the taxpayer,” said Revenue Commissioner Cynthia Bauerly. 
 
 Meanwhile, TurboTax says it has temporarily stopped processing state tax returns due to the increase in fraudulent fillings. Intuit Inc., the company behind the popular tax preparation software TurboTax, said it is working with security company Palantir to investigate the problem. So far, Intuit says there was no security breach of its systems. Instead, it believes personal information was taken elsewhere and used to file returns on TurboTax. 
 
 Intuit says state tax returns already filed since Thursday will be transmitted as soon as possible. Users can still submit their federal income tax returns. 
 
 Utah state tax officials also announced Thursday that they have discovered 28 fraudulent filings from third-party vendors. Some taxpayers there also reported logging into TurboTax to file and then getting a message that their returns already had been filed. 
 
 Utah officials said 18 other states have identified similar problems. 
 
 Minnesota officials said Intuit, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., will open a dedicated phone number beginning at 8 a.m. Friday for people with concerns about the issue. TurboTax users can call 1-800-944-8596. 
 
 Minnesota Revenue Department officials said they were made aware of the issue with TurboTax on Wednesday night and “worked around the clock” to investigate the problem. They will continue to accept returns filed with Intuit professional preparer products, including Lacerte, Intuit Tax Online and ProSeries. 
 
 Bauerly said the Department of Revenue systems have not been breached and that the state has a “robust fraudulent protection system in place.” 
 
 Bauerly said her department has contacted Intuit and requested information on their security solutions and any other issues the company has discovered, along with solutions to resolve them. 
 
 Efforts to reach Intuit for comments Thursday night were not successful. 
 
 The sudden halt to TurboTax-filed returns could cause many to change how they file 2014 income tax returns. With nearly 30 million customers nationwide, TurboTax accounts for 60 to 65 percent of the market. 
 
 Revenue officials said TurboTax issues that popped up in 2013 were caused by some errors in the tax program’s software. “It was a completely different problem,” said Assistant Commissioner Terri Steenblock. 
 
 As of Wednesday, revenue officials said about 267,000 returns had been filed — about 10 percent of what they expect from Minnesotans this season. 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
 
 marylynn.smith@startribune.com 612-673-4788 
 
 ricardo.lopez@startribune.com 651-925-5042
– Minnesota residents who had hoped to file their 2014 tax returns from the comfort of their home offices using TurboTax will need to find another alternative. The state's Department of Revenue announced in a conference call last night that it's no longer accepting returns filed using Intuit's online program after two taxpayers called Wednesday to complain they were alerted that returns had already been filed under their names when they logged in, CBS Minnesota reports. When the department pored over already-submitted returns that had come through TurboTax, officials found "potentially fraudulent activity," which led to the shutdown. Tax professionals will still be permitted to file returns using Intuit's professional-geared programs. "We do not take this step lightly," the department said in last night's call. State officials are now scouring "a couple of thousand" other TurboTax-submitted returns to see what else pops up. "If we identify a problem, we will contact the taxpayer," the revenue commissioner tells the Star Tribune, adding that the department's systems had not been infiltrated and that the state has a "robust fraudulent protection system in place." Officials are working with Intuit to see if there were security issues on its end. Minnesota isn't the only state reporting anomalies: The Utah State Tax Commission issued a statement yesterday that its own internal examination has found 28 fraudulent returns submitted by third-party filers, and that 18 other states are experiencing something similar, the Pioneer Press reports. (One of the biggest tax fraud cases in Oregon was by a TurboTax filer.)