The IRS is warning taxpayers they may be leaving more than $1 billion on the table.
The federal tax collector said Monday that approximately 940,000 people in the U.S. have until May 17 to file tax returns for unclaimed refunds for the 2020 tax year, totaling more than $1 billion nationwide.
The average refund for 2020 is $932. Texas (93,400), California (88,200), Florida (53,200), and New York (51,400) have the highest number of people potentially eligible for these refunds.
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement: “We want taxpayers to claim these refunds, but time is running out for people who may have overlooked or forgotten about these refunds. There’s a May 17 deadline to file these returns, so taxpayers should start soon to make sure they don’t miss out.”
For those who need to file a return, the IRS advises taxpayers to request their W-2, 1098, 1099, or 5498 from their employer or bank, or to request a free wage and income transcript using the IRS’ “Get Transcript Online” tool at IRS.gov.
Taxpayers typically have three years to file and claim tax refunds; otherwise, the money becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury.
Generally, the deadline to claim old refunds falls around the April 15 tax deadline, but this year the three-year window for unclaimed 2020 returns was extended to May 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, if taxpayers have not filed a return for the 2021 and 2022 tax years, any 2020 refund will be held until they file the corresponding returns for those years as well to ensure they do not owe money.
Werfel said that “some people may not realize they’re owed a refund. We encourage people to check their records and start gathering documents now, so they don’t risk missing the May deadline.”
Tax season officially began on January 29.
According to the latest tax season statistics, more than 71.5 million individual tax returns have been filed with the IRS this season.
Image: Wfla
