Nearly 100,000 Americans Haven't Collected Their Tax Return: IRS

The Internal Revenue service has more than a hundred million dollars it would like to give deserving taxpayers.

Exactly 99,123 taxpayers are owed a total of $153.3 million in tax refunds, but the IRS is unable to give them the money due to various mailing address errors, CNNMoney reports. That sum may be less than 0.01 percent of all refunds handed out, but it's a significant amount for many of the recipients themselves, as the average refund check runs around $1,547.

It's likely a significant number of those not obtaining their tax returns don't have a bank account or rely on a so-called alternative financial institution, according to ABC News. A BankRate.com poll that found Americans most often plan to use tax returns to pay down debt, indicating a degree of financial vulnerability, would seem to support that claim.

These IRS tax returns aren't the only funds sitting unclaimed with the U.S. government, however. In fact, there's roughly $33 billion worth of unclaimed funds sitting in state treasuries and other agencies overall, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, MarketWatch reports. In New York, for example, there is $1.7 million that has yet to be claimed by the appropriate individual. But for low-income earners, especially the half of American workers that make less than $27,000 dollars, not obtaining any unclaimed funds is an especially tough blow.

And while nearly half of American tax filers paid no income taxes this year, it's not safe to assume that includes only low- and -middle-income Americans. The IRS earlier this year revealed that 1,470 Americans with incomes of $1 million or more paid nothing in income taxes in 2009. Some billionaires are similarly taxed a rate of less than 1 percent of their incomes.

With the federal deficit an ever-present issue in Washington, calls for higher taxes on the wealthy have grown louder, even from millionaires themselves. In August, Warren Buffett called for higher taxes on the super-rich in a New York Times op-ed, in which he also said he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. Most agree with the Oracle of Omaha: 64 percent of Americans support raising taxes on millionaires, according to a recent poll.

In the meantime there are resources available for those who're missing their tax refunds, with every state featuring an online resource for people to find missing funds, MarketWatch reports. Likewise, the IRS offer the "Where's My Refund?" tool on its website, designed to get refunds back to Americans.

Comments

[Tammy Tyler Palmisano]

05:43 AM on 12/02/2011

woohoo i just found some money the state of louisiana owed me from 1987...now the federal makes no sense they want to know your refund amount and filing status...i would assume if someone filed a tax return and was entitled to money back they would have been calling the irs about it, why not serch ssn and if something comes back then ask for more info...just my thinking!

[TeeLolly]

12:40 AM on 12/02/2011

I sent the IRS an estimated tax payment almost a year ago, but although the certified mail card was signed and returned, the IRS still hasn't cashed my check ...

[Tom95134]

03:41 AM on 12/02/2011

If the check is a year old then the bank probably won't honor it. In fact, most banks hesitate to honor checks more than 180 days old.

[Tammy Tyler Palmisano]

05:44 AM on 12/02/2011

do they show you owe them

[TeeLolly]

10:58 AM on 12/02/2011

They haven't sent any notices ...

[bigdaddyvike]

08:18 PM on 12/01/2011

Probably because they've been improperly forclosed upon and they're not home to get their mail.

[vippy]

06:37 PM on 12/01/2011

If you owe, the IRS finds you, but here, they don't even go after the owners!

[frank day]

06:31 PM on 12/01/2011

That's kind of sad.

Sounds like the people could really use the money.