For millions of people, one of the most anticipated treats of any year is getting that tax refund check in the mail from Uncle Sam. Folks file their taxes early in hopes of getting back their tax refunds as early as possible, but this year may prove to be a bit frustrating, as around 3 million taxpayers could see delays in their refunds.

Why? The main reason for the upcoming delays is a recent law change by Congress relating to the nation's alternative minimum tax. Delays pushed the changes to the end of the year, and with the action coming so close to tax season, the IRS is now struggling to reprogram its computers to deal with the changes.

For those of you unfamiliar with the alternative minimum tax (or AMT), it was instituted in 1970 as a way to ensure that upper-income families couldn't avoid paying taxes through their legal deductions. At the time that it was established, the AMT was aimed at only the top 155 families in America, who had so many tax deductions that they could effectively avoid paying Uncle Sam all together... and we all know how much Uncle Sam likes to get paid!

However, through the years there has been one major problem with the alternative minimum tax: inflation, or more specifically, the fact that the tax law has not been adjusted to deal with inflation. As a result, instead of a couple hundred people falling into the minimum alternative tax bracket, there are now millions. It is estimated that by the year 2010, one out of every five households would fall into the AMT bracket if changes are not permanently made to the current system.