By Paul N. Gada, CCH Financial Planning Toolkit Staff Writer
The IRS has $73 million in refund checks for 84,290 taxpayers who failed to correct or update their addresses with the IRS in 2005. The average amount owed to each taxpayer is $871, and some taxpayers have more than one check outstanding.
Although $73 million may seem like a lot, this amount is pretty standard when it comes to undeliverable tax refunds each year. In 2004, for example, over $73 million in refund checks could not be delivered. In 2002, nearly $80 million could not reach taxpayers due to invalid addresses on file with the IRS. The bottom line here is that a large amount of money is not reaching the rightful owners each year because of a very simple oversight.
Taxpayers who believe that they are owed a refund can check the "Where's My Refund?" feature on the irs.gov website. To use it, taxpayers must enter their Social Security number, filing status (such as single or married filing jointly) and the refund amount shown on their 2004 tax return. Once the information is submitted, "Where's My Refund?" will show the status of the taxpayer's refund.
"Our goal is to get this money back in the hands of the people it belongs to," IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said. "Visiting IRS.gov makes it easy for taxpayers to see if they've missed a refund."
Taxpayers who do not have Internet access and believe that they are missing a refund check should call the IRS toll-free assistance line at 1-800-829-1040.
In the case of Gulf Coast residents affected by Hurricane Katrina, the IRS will expedite research into the status of undelivered payments and issue a refund check when the original is outstanding. The IRS advises hurricane victims who had been expecting a refund check but did not receive one to contact the IRS on the special toll-free Katrina disaster line at 1-866-562-5227.
Taxpayers who have moved since filing their last tax return can provide the IRS with their correct mailing address by filing Form 8822, Change of Address, with the IRS. This form can be downloaded from irs.gov or taxpayers may request it by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).
To avoid future undelivered refunds, taxpayers can choose to have their refunds sent directly into a personal checking or savings account through direct deposit. This option is available for both paper and electronic return filers.
In fact, direct deposit was a very popular choice for the 2005 filing season, where over half of the refunds issued by the IRS (49.4 million of 84.7 million to be exact) were made via this method. This represents a seven percent increase from last year.
Rather than giving the IRS money they didn’t earn, direct deposit might be the best way to go if there is any chance a taxpayer expects an address change in the foreseeable future. As an added bonus, direct deposit gets refunds to the taxpayer a week sooner than issuing a check.
Now go check the irs.gov website to see if you have a refund coming!
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- Over $2 Billion In Unclaimed Refunds From 2001 Faces Looming Deadline
Added to the news on October 31, 2005.
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