The IRS might have your cash. The tax company has introduced that greater than $1.5 billion in excellent refunds stay unclaimed from the 2019 tax yr. The company estimates that greater than 1.5 million taxpayers may need certified for a refund however didn’t file a federal revenue tax return for the 2019 tax yr.

Tax Refund Deadline

In case you are due a refund, you have to file a federal revenue tax return to get your cash.

Taxpayers often have three years to file and declare their tax refunds—in case you do not file inside three years, the cash turns into the property of the U.S. Treasury.

Issues are a little bit totally different this yr—you’ve extra time than common to file to say your prior yr (2019) refund. That is as a result of the conventional submitting deadline to say refunds is usually across the April tax deadline. However the submitting deadline for 2019 tax returns wasn’t regular in any respect—it was postponed to July 15, 2020, because of the pandemic. So the three-year window from that date is July 15, 2023—besides that July 15 is a Saturday in 2023, which suggests it will get pushed to the next Monday. (That was quite a bit, stick with me.)

That is a good distance of claiming that to say your refund for the 2019 tax yr, your return should be postmarked on or earlier than July 17, 2023. Should you want affirmation (I do know I all the time admire a main supply), take a look at Discover 2023-21, issued earlier this yr.

What You’ll Want

Should you use tax submitting software program, you may seemingly discover the 2019 return fairly simply—test round for a “prior years” tab or possibility. Should you intend to file on paper and wish a duplicate of the 2019 tax kinds, you’ll find kinds and directions on the IRS.gov Kinds and Publications web page. You may also name 800.TAX.FORM (800.829.3676)—it is a toll-free quantity.

Should you did not file in 2019, you won’t have your tax and different data at your fingertips. Do not forget that you will want your kinds W-2, 1098, 1099, or 5498 from 2019 to file. If you do not have your previous tax data kinds, you may request copies out of your employer, financial institution, or different payer. You may also order a free wage and revenue transcript through the use of the Get Transcript instrument on the IRS web site

Don’t Wait

The IRS encourages you to not wait. “With the pandemic happening when the 2019 tax returns have been initially due, individuals confronted extraordinarily uncommon conditions. Individuals might have merely forgotten about tax refunds with the deadline that yr postponed all the best way into July,” mentioned IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “We continuously see college students, part-time employees and others with little revenue overlook submitting a tax return and by no means notice they could be owed a refund. We encourage individuals to overview their data and begin gathering data now, so they do not run the danger of lacking the July deadline.”

Potential Refunds

How a lot is at stake? The IRS estimates the midpoint for the potential unclaimed refunds for 2019 to be $893. Which means half of the refunds are greater than $893, and half are much less.

These refund quantities could possibly be much more than the estimates since they don’t embody the Earned Revenue Tax Credit score, or EITC. That is why you will see the * within the chart under – these potential refund quantities do not issue within the EITC. For 2019, the credit score was price as much as $6,557. The revenue thresholds for the 2019 tax yr have been:

• $50,162 ($55,952 if married submitting collectively) for these with three or extra qualifying youngsters;
• $46,703 ($52,493 if married submitting collectively) for individuals with two qualifying youngsters;
• $41,094 ($46,884 if married submitting collectively) for these with one qualifying little one, and;
• $15,570 ($21,370 if married submitting collectively) for individuals with out qualifying youngsters.

Why may you be due a refund for causes aside from the EITC? Possibly you had an excessive amount of withholding out of your wages or made an excessive amount of in quarterly funds. You won’t have filed since you had too little revenue to require submitting a tax return, and also you thought it would not make a distinction. Keep in mind, you may’t obtain the good thing about refundable credit—or different tax breaks which could lead to a refund–until you file. And there’s no penalty for failing to file when you’re due a refund.

In fact, in case you owe the feds cash for scholar loans or again taxes, for instance, or in case your refund is in any other case earmarked for seizure, reminiscent of for little one assist obligations, any tax refund will probably be offset by the quantities owed. Moreover, in case you are not compliant or haven’t filed tax returns for the 2020 and 2021 tax years, the IRS might maintain your 2019 tax refund.

The Numbers

Who’s owed essentially the most cash? By the numbers, the highest ten states by estimated variety of taxpayer refunds are:

By {dollars}, the highest ten states by potential anticipated refund quantity are:

Do not see your state? Or wanting to be taught extra? You possibly can take a look at the complete listing right here.

MORE FROM FORBESYour Fast Information To Tax Refunds In 2023By Kelly Phillips Erb