Insurance and Credit

You work hard for your money and every pay check you watch as the government funnels away some of it. Because I pay attention to just how much I lose every pay period, I was shocked to find out that there is over a billion dollars of unclaimed tax refunds sitting in a US Treasury account.

There is probably more money now, as the article I read was dated 2008. Are you entitled to a piece of that $1.2B pie? Now before you dismiss it as too much work to claim your money, consider that with current software applications it can take as little as thirty minutes to complete your return. Is $500 worth half an hour? That’s the median amount (half of returns are less, half more) owed to tax payers across the country.

If you think that you may be entitled to a tax refund the first thing to do is review your records. Have you filed every year? If you haven’t, and don’t owe money for any year, you can request unclaimed tax refunds up to four years after the deadline (e.g. you have until April 15, 2009 to file a return for 2005). There is no penalty for filing your taxes late if it is the government that owes you money.

Tax packages for previous years can be found easily on the IRS website, www.irs.gov. To download the appropriate package, simply enter “tax packages” into the search bar. While on the site, don’t forget to download any income forms you may be missing, or records of deductible expenses. Employers, student loan providers and charitable organizations all submit a copy of your receipts to the government, so if you’re missing any of these you can still complete you taxes.

Not filing for your refund is one way that your rebate could go unclaimed, but it is not the sole reason you have missed out. According to officials the majority of those 1.2 billion dollars is funds that the government was unable to deliver. This happens most frequently when we move and don’t update the government of our new address. It may not seem that crucial during the hectic period of moving, but if you want to ensure your money is going to get to you make sure you either contact the IRS directly with your new information or file a change of address form with the post office.

These “missed” payments happen so frequently that the government has had to create a specific website just to handle requests for refunds. Where is My Rebate (wheresmyrebate.com) allows tax payers to track their refund status and correct any information such as direct deposit, address, etc. To access the service you will need to have your social security number, the amount of your refund that you calculated and your marital status for the tax year in question.

I hope that this has shown you how easy it will be to see if you are entitled to, and how to get any unclaimed tax refunds that you are owed. You don’t really trust the government with your money do you?