Washington, D.C ? The Internal Revenue Service will revamp a fraud detection program and start notifying taxpayers this spring when freezing their refunds for further examination, the nation’s tax collectors announced Monday.

The changes address criticism that the agency’s Questionable Refund Program deemed thousands of refunds fraudulent and withheld the money without telling taxpayers. The IRS said taxpayers can expect to get notification as quickly as they would have expected to receive the refund.

The IRS plans to review refunds frozen in the past and release them or notify taxpayers, and work to more quickly release valid refunds. IRS investigators also plan to refine their screening processes over the coming months so fewer innocent taxpayers see their refunds frozen.