IRS Holding Over Two Billion in Unclaimed Refund Money

The only good thing about doing taxes is getting a nice, big tax refund. Unfortunately, nearly 2 million taxpayers failed to claim theirs in 2003.

Feel like taxes are too high? Of course you do. It is a god given write of Americans to complain about taxes. That being said, you lose the right to complain if you don’t follow up on money the IRS owes you. For the 2003 tax year, 1.8 million Americans have failed to do so to the tune of a whopping 2.2 billion dollars.

How does $1,200 sound? What could you do with it this month? Heck, you could even fill up your car at the gas station a couple of times. Okay, maybe twice given the outrageous gas price increases, but the money would clearly help. Well, $1,200 is the average tax refund due to people that failed to claim theirs in 2003!

You are probably wondering how so many people could leave tax refunds at the IRS. It is often a matter of record keeping. Most of us make mistakes here and there and they add up.

1. You just didn’t file a tax return because of family or personal matters.

2. You worked on and off and forget you paid taxes during one of the on times out of your paycheck.

3. You moved and didn’t tell the IRS.

4. Lower income individuals failing to claim the EITC.

5. You kept bad records of tax payments and believe you paid less then you really did.

So, is there a rush to get out there and claim your tax refund? Well, yes, there is. The magic deadline is tax filing day this year. This represents the three year running period for the statute of limitations. Neither you nor the IRS can look back more than three years to fix a problem, such as this one.

I could always use an extra grand or so. How about you? A vast majority of readers should be nodding their head in the affirmative. If you are one of them, take the time to go back and check your 2003 tax records. You might just find the grand sitting there.

Richard A. Chapo is with BusinessTaxRecovery.com - providing information on taxes.
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