Extra Cash for Thousands of Taxpayers

Need some extra cash? The IRS may have the solution. If you are one of 81,000 taxpayers who have not yet gotten your 1991 refund check, the IRS wants to hear from you.

More than $44 million in undelivered refunds is waiting to be claimed, averaging $552 a check. The Postal Service returned these refunds checks to IRS because they could not deliver them. Thousands of checks are returned each year because the names or addresses on the checks are incorrect or the taxpayers have moved and did not give IRS their new address.

Avoiding the delay of an undelivered refund is easy. Taxpayers can send IRS a change of address --Form 8822 -- when they move or they can file their tax returns electronically and have the refund deposited directly into their bank accounts. Direct deposit eliminates the possibility of lost, stolen or undeliverable refund checks.

Recently, the US Postal Inspection Service warned taxpayers to beware of notices in the mail that offer to help you get your tax refund for a small fee. The IRS says that although the offers may look official, these companies can not get your refund for you. Instead they will send you a claim form which you can get free from the IRS. If you were due a refund this year and have not gotten it yet, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.

The number of undelivered refunds has remain relatively constant each year. In 1989 and 1990 there were 72,000 undelivered refunds. However, in 1991 the number was less -- 55,000 -- because the list was not available until December. Therefore more taxpayers had claimed their refund before the listing became available.

Undelivered refunds are not the general rule. Last filing season over 78 million taxpayers received their refund checks on time with the average refund being $1000.

1992 UNDELIVERED REFUNDS BY REGION

 REGION          AREA                                 REFUNDS     $
                                                     (millions)

CENTRAL         Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan,            3,900    1.9
                Ohio, West Virginia

MID-ATLANTIC    Delaware, District of Columbia,         10,300  10.5
                Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsyl-
                vania, Virginia

MID-WEST        Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri,    7,800    3.8
                Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,
                South Dakota, Wisconsin

NORTH-ATLANTIC  Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,      7,800    5.1
                New Hampshire, New York, Rhode
                Island, Vermont

SOUTHEAST       Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,    18,100  10.0
                Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,
                South Carolina, Tennessee

SOUTHWEST       Arizona, Colorado, Kansas,              10,700   4.4
                New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas,
                Utah, Wyoming

WESTERN         Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho       22,100  12.7
                Nevada, Oregon, Washington

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