The Internal Revenue Service says more than $1 billion in unclaimed tax refunds from the 2020 tax year are in its coffers. But the deadline to file a claim is fast approaching.
About 940,000 people in the United States have until May 17 to submit their 2020 tax returns and claim their share of unclaimed funds, according to the IRS. The government agency estimates the median reimbursement is $932.
“There is money left on the table for hundreds of thousands of people who have not filed 2020 taxes,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in March. “We want taxpayers to claim these refunds, but time is running out for those who may have overlooked or forgotten these refunds.”
Typically, filers have three years to claim old refunds before the April 15 tax filing deadline. However, the IRS extended this deadline until May 17 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“People have faced extremely unusual situations during the pandemic, which may have caused some people to overlook a possible refund on their 2020 tax returns,” Werfel said in the IRS release.
The IRS says your refund may be withheld if you haven’t filed your 2021 and 2022 tax returns. Additionally, if you owe money to the IRS or a state tax agency, your refund will be applied to this payment and may also be applied to any unpaid child support or other debts owed to the federal government in arrears.
How to claim your possible tax refund
If you think the IRS may owe you a refund, you should file your 2020 tax return.
To do this, you will need to obtain the necessary documents from the 2020 tax year. Here are some common ones:
If you do not already have these documents, you can request copies from your employer or bank. If you are unable to retrieve them this way, you can use the IRS’s “Get Transcript Online” tool to order a free transcript of your wages and income, which will include the documents you will need to file.
You will want to act as soon as possible. After the May 17 deadline, these unclaimed funds become the property of the U.S. Treasury, according to the IRS.
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