State bills nearly 500 people twice for taxes

Nearly 500 Massachusetts state taxpayers got a nasty surprise this week: Their taxes were taken out of their bank accounts twice.

The state Department of Revenue confirmed today what 473 taxpayers already knew: Their bank accounts had been hit twice for this year’s tax bill. That rang up to $8.2 million in overcharges by the state, said Bob Bliss, the department’s spokesman.

The error affected people who filed for tax extensions on the April 15 deadline and set up electronic payments to be made from their bank accounts.

Late today, the state was working to reverse the mistake and said it was putting up an informational notice on the Department of Revenue website.

‘‘It’s not excusable, and we are in the process of both apologizing and correcting the error,’’ Bliss said.
(By Beth Healy, Globe staff)