IRS: Unclaimed tax refunds from 2008 total $1 billion

The Internal Revenue Service said today taxpayers haven’t collected $1 billion in income tax refunds from 2008, and unless filers act fast, they will lose claim to their money, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

The IRS believes some of the refunds are due to people who had too little income to file a return, even though they had tax withheld from their wages or made payments quarterly. In cases where a return wasn’t filed, the law provides many taxpayers with a three-year window to claim the refund.

After April 17 of this year, any money not claimed gets sent to the US Treasury, CNN Money reported.

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At least half of the potential refunds are more than $600, according to the IRS, CNN Money reported.

California and Texas have the highest number of taxpayers with potential refunds, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The IRS said it may ask individuals who didn’t file tax returns for 2009 or 2010 either to fill those out before it releases any 2008 refund money owed them, CNN Money reported. The agency also said it will deduct tax payments and other federal debts that filers owe the government from their 2008 refunds.

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