$1.1 Billion Nobody Wants?

Think back 3 years ago to where you were working in 2007. Did you file your taxes? If you didn’t you might be due a portion of the $1.1 billion in unclaimed refunds the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates taxpayers are owed. Perhaps you didn’t have to file or were unaware that you were eligible for a credit.

The IRS said, "Some people may not have filed because they had too little income to require filing a tax return even though they had taxes withheld from their wages or made quarterly estimated payments." Or maybe you filed but didn’t receive the check because the IRS couldn’t find you. If you move after filing your taxes you need to inform the IRS, not the post office, since Treasury checks won’t be forwarded. Other refunds were undeliverable due to poor penmanship and illegible addresses.

Unfiled refunds from 2007 average about $600-$700 and returned returns checks are running around $1,148. I don’t know about you but in these tight times, I wouldn’t sneeze at $60 let alone $600 if all it took was filling out some forms to get it - especially if I worked for it in the first place. My father always told me that getting a tax refund was like giving the government an interest free loan for the year. In contrast he said if you owe in April it means you got the loan but be prepared to cough up the cash when they ask for it or it won’t be interest free anymore.

Now time is running out to cash in on money the government may owe you. If you’re due a refund you have until April 18, 2011 to file or the government is going to call finders keepers on all the unclaimed funds. Also you will be required to file 2008 and 2009 returns if you haven’t already done so before the IRS will cut your check. If you have liens, owe any back taxes or child support that will be deducted as well. Otherwise your refund will be on its way and you can catch up on some bills or treat yourself to something special as long as you don’t move and forget to mention it.

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By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer with experience in web, film, photography and animation as well as traditional fine arts like painting and sculpting. In addition to writing for FinancialJobBankBlog.com , she is co-founder of design and promotion company, Creative Kazoo with fellow Nexxt blogger, Staci Dennis. Heather’s spare time consists of making puppets, teaching Sunday School, building Legos and doing science experiments with her children.