SOUTHLAND FOCUS

* Wellpoint Health Networks said it has received a long-promised tax refund of $183 million from the Internal Revenue Service. The refund, which was approved by the IRS in September, was based on an overpayment of taxes after the Thousand Oaks-based company’s shift from nonprofit to for-profit status in 1996. At that time, Wellpoint paid $800 million to set up a charitable foundation but did not deduct the money from its corporate taxes. The company then asked the IRS to rule on whether the money--paid in order to comply with federal rules about changing to for-profit status--was deductible. The agency ruled last fall that it was.