If you haven’t filed your previous year’s tax returns, you could be missing out on hundreds of dollars! The IRS says there is a total of almost $1.4 billion in income tax refunds that have yet to go unclaimed from 1.2 million taxpayers who did not file a 2015 federal income tax return. Taxpayers who are missing out on their refund are running out of time to claim their refund.
To collect their tax refunds, taxpayers must file their 2015 tax return with the IRS by Monday, April 15th. Taxpayers in Maine & Massachusetts have until April 17th. The IRS says the midpoint for the unclaimed refunds is at $879, meaning half of the refunds are above $879 and the other half is below that level. The tax law provides taxpayers with a three-year window of opportunity to claim a tax refund. If you do not file within that time frame, the money becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury.
If you file your 2015 tax return, your refund could be withheld from you for a few reasons, including if you have yet to file for 2016 or 2017 or if you currently owe money to the IRS or State tax agency. Your refund could also be used to offset unpaid child support or past due federal debts, such as student loans.
The state of Texas has the highest amount of unfiled tax returns with around 129,300 2015 tax returns still not filed, resulting in a loss of around $158,244,000. Vermont had the least amount of unfiled 2015 tax returns, with around 2,200 still unfiled.