Unclaimed Property Blog

The IRS is urging anyone who didn’t file a tax return in 2009 to file this year, as the federal government is holding onto 917 million expiring tax refunds. $917 million is a lot of money and all of that money could go to the rightful owners, but only if those individuals file by April 15^th of this year.

While most people won’t be holding out hope that they have 917 million in expiring tax refunds, many could be surprised at just how substantial the refunds average out to be. The IRS states that half of those 2009 refunds amount to more than $500. That means that you could have $500 or more coming to you this year, but only if you claim your expiring tax refunds.

If you ever pay attention to the news, you may have heard the term ‘government coffers’. That term is often thrown around when the government is holding onto a certain amount of money. The IRS collects our taxes and it goes into the Federal Government’s coffers. The state treasury accounts for billions of dollars in unclaimed money – that money is also collected in coffers.

If you can imagine a large vault where all of that money is kept, you’ll have the right idea of what government coffers are all about. While you can’t do anything about IRS taxes, you can do something about the unclaimed money state treasury accounts. By searching for unclaimed money, you might be able to help the government empty its coffers of money once and for all.

With so many ups and downs in national and international economy everyone is worried about their tax rebates and its check. There are lots of people who need to claim their tax rebates check and the federal government in this period of recession it seems has announced to issue the tax rebates checks of few millions of people.

They have revealed that even if you have not earned enough money to pay taxes in last year you can get an amount anyway. It is believed and calculated that most of the people will get somewhat good amount through tax rebates check. The government is going to issue checks on the basis of returns filed by people for the last financial year.

The IRS has lost a lawsuit regarding a tax on phone bills. The result is that taxpayers will no longer have to pay this tax and will also be getting money back.

A while back there was a blog on this tax. You may recall that telephone bills had a 3% federal excise tax on long-distance services. The bill permitting this tax was originally enacted in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War. Several lawsuits were filed regarding this tax be abolished and refunded. The IRS has lost the right to charge this and the Treasury now has to refund approximately $13 billion to taxpayers.

Back-to-school shopping can be costly. Some states have decided to waive the sales tax on particular purchases.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia are offering shoppers a sales tax holiday this year. The majority of states will be doing this on the first weekend of August.

Be sure to schedule your shopping trip during these times for extra savings. And before you bring your purchases to the register, make sure the items qualify. Some purchases will save you sales-tax dollars, others will not. Participating states have a detailed list of their sales-tax-exempt items. Each state can and does have varying products and dates of the sale, so be sure you know before you go.

Last week it was the Veterans Affairs computer with personal data. Today we are informed that data from the Department of Energy is now at risk.

Officials told a House oversight committee that a hacker stole a computer file containing the names and Social Security numbers of 1,500 employees of the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons agency. Good that we are being informed. What I would like to know is why are we being informed on June 9th when the theft occurred in September?

Identity theft seems to be all around. Most Americans look at it as something we just have to deal with. Is this really true?

Upon further investigation it was discovered we needed something to compare our theft situation with. Turning to Europe seemed logical. However, determining the rate of identity theft in Europe was difficult. Per data security experts it isn’t enough of a problem to warrant a comprehensive survey.

Digging into this a little further found there was an exception; the United Kingdom (U.K.).

The IRS has agreed to forgive about 400 taxpayers in Ohio a late filing fee.

Wondering about the reason for such generosity and if this could happen to you? It is probably a once in a million type of error on the part of Ohio’s largest newspaper, The Plain Dealer.

On Monday, tax due date, the paper printed a list of the post offices staying open until midnight to postmark the tax returns. It turns out that several of the post offices listed did not stay open.

Ever think that it would be good if people did what they were supposed to, like pay taxes. You didn’t ask for the data, but someone proudly states that he didn’t pay taxes on his last job because he was paid under the table. What do you do? Do you keep this information to yourself? Do you tell someone? Who? For further information read on.

There are people who have been paid by the IRS to inform them of tax criminals. The IRS has a civil and criminal investigation team. This team does want information from all sources, including John Q. Public.

What a deal—you increase your education and you tax liability may decrease.

You have a student loan for furthering your education which is a valuable commodity. The education can pay off later with a good job at a higher income for your knowledge.

With tax time approaching the student loan may make you eligible to deduct up to $2,500 of the interest you paid on the loan last year. This deduction will help reduce your taxable income, possibly giving you a smaller tax bill.