Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Facts About Unclaimed Tax Refunds

Were you filling out your 1040EZ this year wondering if you had some money somewhere that you didn’t know about? The fact is that the IRS says that there is money that may belong to you. For instance, the IRS says that they have 73 million dollars in refunds that could not be delivered just from the 2004 tax year alone! There is a chance that some of this could be yours. It’s not about the form that you used; it’s about the IRS not being able to deliver your funds. This is becoming less common as time goes on as more people are having their refunds deposited directly into their bank accounts. While this is doing away with some of the problem, it hasn’t done away with completely and many of the unclaimed refunds predate the ability to deposit funds into your bank account.

So, don’t just think about whether or not you have unclaimed tax refunds while filling out your form 1040EZ, actually go and look for them. You can visit the www.irs.gov website and see for yourself if you have any unclaimed tax refunds. This will take just a minute after you click on the “Where’s My Refund?’ link on the site. You may just be surprised when you see your name on the list of refunds that haven’t been able to be paid. Who knows, you could have a couple hundred extra dollars in your pocket when all is said and done.

What happens with unpaid tax refunds is that people will fill out their 1040A or other tax forms with one address, and then you may have moved before your refund arrived. When the post office couldn’t deliver the item to you or it was not picked up from somewhere such as a post office box, the check was returned to the IRS and has simply been sitting, waiting to be claimed every year since then. When you visit the website you can verify who you are, input your new address, and have your old tax refund or refunds sent to you, even when it is not tax season! This is a nice surprise that many find out about, and while you are looking you may want to check for U.S. savings bonds that you have not received, or check into mortgage insurance refunds, too! You could walk away with quite a bit of money.
Were you filling out your 1040EZ this year wondering if you had some money somewhere that you didn’t know about? The fact is that the IRS says that there is money that may belong to you. For instance, the IRS says that they have 73 million dollars in refunds that could not be delivered just from the 2004 tax year alone! There is a chance that some of this could be yours. It’s not about the form that you used; it’s about the IRS not being able to deliver your funds. This is becoming less common as time goes on as more people are having their refunds deposited directly into their bank accounts. While this is doing away with some of the problem, it hasn’t done away with completely and many of the unclaimed refunds predate the ability to deposit funds into your bank account.

So, don’t just think about whether or not you have unclaimed tax refunds while filling out your form 1040EZ, actually go and look for them. You can visit the www.irs.gov website and see for yourself if you have any unclaimed tax refunds. This will take just a minute after you click on the “Where’s My Refund?’ link on the site. You may just be surprised when you see your name on the list of refunds that haven’t been able to be paid. Who knows, you could have a couple hundred extra dollars in your pocket when all is said and done.

What happens with unpaid tax refunds is that people will fill out their 1040A or other tax forms with one address, and then you may have moved before your refund arrived. When the post office couldn’t deliver the item to you or it was not picked up from somewhere such as a post office box, the check was returned to the IRS and has simply been sitting, waiting to be claimed every year since then. When you visit the website you can verify who you are, input your new address, and have your old tax refund or refunds sent to you, even when it is not tax season! This is a nice surprise that many find out about, and while you are looking you may want to check for U.S. savings bonds that you have not received, or check into mortgage insurance refunds, too! You could walk away with quite a bit of money.