Every year, there are $450 million dollars in IRS refund checks that are delivered but never cashed. That works out to about $750 per return. This is largely due to name changes, address changes, marriages, divorces and deaths. It gets better. According to the IRS, there is more than $2 billion dollars in refunds that are never claimed by the roughly 1.7 million people who have failed to file a tax return during the prior 3 years. Collecting these refunds is simple; the taxpayer just needs to file tax returns for those missing years. Why does this happen? Often times, the taxpayer may have died, leaving the tax refund uncollected. The most common reason is that the taxpayer’s income fell below the minimum amount requiring a tax return be filed.
In cases where a return was not filed, the IRS provides most taxpayers with a three-year grace period for claiming a refund. If no return is filed within three years, the refund becomes property of the U.S. Treasury. For 2007 returns, the window closes on April 15, 2011. The IRS requires these returns to be properly addressed, postmarked and mailed by that date. There is no penalty assessed by the IRS for filing a late return that qualifies for a refund.
Taxpayers must request a replacement check if a tax refund check has been lost, destroyed or voided due to the passage of time. US Treasury checks are usually payable one year from the date of issue. However, there is a 3 year limit in which one can replace their lost, destroyed or voided refund check. As an added bonus, This unclaimed refund check earns interest during this period.
But wait, there’s more! In 2006 alone, more than 120,000 Child Tax Credit checks worth more than $55 million dollars were returned and/or never cashed. In addition, almost one-fourth of eligible taxpayers failed to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit. This refund could be worth more than $4,200 per tax return for qualifying low-income workers.The bad news is that Since these untold billions of unclaimed cash is being held by the US Treasury, a Federal Agency, these assets will not appear in a state database search. The good news is that Fortune Finders has instant access to the tens of millions of IRS records and may very well find you an unclaimed fortune in tax refunds!
