The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) might have your money. The tax agency has announced that more than $1.1 billion in outstanding refunds remain unclaimed from 2014. Yes, billion. That represents an estimated one million taxpayers who might have qualified for a refund but who did not file a federal income tax return for 2014.
If you are due a refund, you must file a federal income tax return to get your money. You typically have a three-year window following the return due date to claim your tax refund. To claim your refund for the 2014 tax year, your return must be postmarked on or before Tax Day, April 17, 2018.
If you need a copy of the 2014 form 1040 (downloads as a pdf), visit the IRS website or call toll-free 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676). Remember that you’ll need your forms W-2, 1098, 1099, or 5498 from 2014 to file. If you don’t have your old tax forms, you can request copies from your employer, bank, or another payer; if that doesn’t work, you can try ordering them from IRS.gov using the “Get Transcript” tool. You can also file a form 4506-T (downloads as a PDF) and use the information on the transcript to file a return.
“We’re trying to connect a million people with their share of $1.1 billion in unclaimed refunds for 2014,” said Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter.
Time is running out for people who haven’t filed tax returns to claim their refunds. Students, part-time workers and many others may have overlooked filing for 2014. And there’s no penalty for filing a late return if you’re due a refund.
Of course, if you owe the feds money for student loans or back taxes, for example, or if your refund is otherwise earmarked for seizure, such as for child support obligations, any tax refund will be offset by the amounts owed. Additionally, if you are not compliant or if you have not filed tax returns for 2015 and 2016, the IRS may hold your tax refund.
If you don’t file for your refund within the proper time frame, you lose your right to claim it: It becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury.
How much is at stake? The IRS estimates the midpoint for the potential refunds for 2014 to be $847; half of the refunds are more than $847 and half are less. Those refund amounts could actually be even more than the estimates since they do not include the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
Why might you be due a refund? Maybe you had too much withholding from your wages or made too much in quarterly payments. You might have also been eligible for the EITC. Even though you were due a refund, you might not have filed because you had too little income to require filing a tax return and you thought it wouldn’t make a difference. But that’s not always the case. Remember, you can’t receive the benefit of refundable credits – or other tax breaks which might result in a refund – unless you file.
To see where your state ranks, click on over to the IRS website.
