IRS Holding USD266m In Undeliverable Refunds

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

24 October 2008

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is looking for taxpayers who are missing more than 279,000 economic stimulus checks totaling about USD163 million and more than 104,000 regular refund checks totaling about USD103 million that were returned by the US Postal Service due to mailing address errors.

“People across the country are missing tax refunds and stimulus checks. We want to get this money into the hands of taxpayers where it belongs,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “We are committed to making the process as easy as possible for taxpayers to update their addresses with the IRS and get their checks.”

Taxpayers who may be due a stimulus check must update their addresses with the IRS by November 28, 2008. By law, economic stimulus checks must be sent out by December 31 of this year. The undeliverable economic stimulus checks average USD583.

The regular refund checks that were returned to the IRS average USD988. The agency said that these checks are resent as soon as taxpayers update their address.

According to the IRS, the vast majority of checks mailed out reach their rightful owner every year. The agency added that only a very small percentage are returned by the US Postal Service as undeliverable.

Through September 2008, the government distributed 116 million economic stimulus payments with only about 279,000 checks being undeliverable. Meanwhile, the IRS has distributed more than 105 million regular refunds this year with only about 104,000 being undeliverable. In both cases, well under 1% of refunds or stimulus checks were undeliverable.

However, the agency is keen to point out that if taxpayers choose to have their refunds directly deposited in their bank accounts, then the possibility of payments getting lost in the post is eliminated.

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