Finding Unclaimed Property

What is Unclaimed Property?

What qualifies as unclaimed property varies according to state. For the most part, insurance companies, investment companies, utilities, banks, and other business (like medical testing businesses), are required to turn over inactive accounts. This property is considered “unclaimed” or “abandoned.” If you can prove you own the property, you can claim it for your own.

Here are some examples of what might be considered unclaimed money or property:

• Uncashed paychecks
• Investments
• What’s in a safe deposit box
• Savings and checking accounts
• Accounts at failed banks and credit unions
• Payments you are owed from various businesses (such as with pharmaceutical trial participation)
• Positive utility accounts that still contain money after you’ve disconnected
• Unused gift certificates/gift cards (but only in a few states)

Many states use this money to fund various operations. The money is still yours, but states can earn interest on it. Once you prove that you own the money, you can claim it, and the government will turn it over.

Locating Your Unclaimed Money

It’s possible to fairly easily locate your unclaimed property, if you have any. One of the best places to look is MissingMoney.com. This site lists unclaimed property held by states, where the money came from, and how much is available. It’s also possible to use the Treasury Hunt tool at TreasuryDirect.gov to find out if you have unclaimed savings bonds.

The FDIC and NCUA offer tools for finding money at failed financial institutions, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp also provides information about abandoned defined-benefit plans, and the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits offers something similar for 401(k)s. Sometimes, you’ll actually be called in the event of a forgotten account.

Claiming Your Money

In order to claim your money, you will have to prove you are the true owner, through documentation. In some cases, the unclaimed property you find actually belonged to someone who has passed on. In that case, you will need to show a death certificate, and prove that you are an heir, and authorized to collect the money on behalf of the estate. Once you locate your unclaimed property, find out from the agency that has it what you need to show as proof of your right to it.

Realize that you don’t need to pay anyone to claim your property. There are firms that can track down your unclaimed property and help you get it back, but these are completely unnecessary. You can get the information for free, and there is no reason to ever pay anyone to get what’s already rightfully yours.  The best step to take is to go to directly to your State Controller’s website.  This is the single best source to check and see if any money being held by your state belongs to you.  Your state’s site will direct you on the proper steps you need to take to collect your money.

With a few minutes of digging, you can find out if you have unclaimed property waiting for you. It’s not a bad way to spend a little time, and you just might profit from it.

The IRS announced yesterday that they will begin accepting returns affected by the filing delays starting on February 14 – just in time for Valentine’s Day!

File Now with TurboTax

The good news is you don’t worry this doesn’t mean you need to wait until mid-February to file your taxes.  TurboTax is ready to accept your return today, whether you’re impacted by the delays or not.

If you claim itemized tax deductions on Schedule A, the higher education tuition and fees deduction and the educator expenses deduction, you can prepare and e-file your return now with TurboTax and we will hold it and then automatically submit your federal tax return to the IRS.  TurboTax will submit your state tax return immediately so you can get you your state tax refund as quickly as possible.

The IRS stated in their announcement that the filing delays, which impact both paper and e-filed tax returns, will affect approximately 9 million taxpayers (based on estimates from last year).

What about your state refund?

We know that everyone wants to get their refund ASAP.  Since TurboTax is the market leader, we have been able to work closely with states to get you your state tax refund as quickly as possible, even if your federal return is delayed until Feb. 14.  Not all other software or tax stores are able to do this for their customers.   To find out if your state is accepting returns from TurboTax now check out this post.

Have any other questions?  Leave them in the comments and we will try to help you out.