IRS wants you — and it might mean a refund
The IRS may be trying to track you down.
And this time, it could mean money in your pocket.
The agency said Wednesday that it has $2.7 million in unpaid refunds, mostly from 2010 returns, that have yet to reach Nevada consumers due to mailing-address errors.
A big chunk -- $2.4 million -- is owed to Clark County residents. Nearly 1,300 of the 1,500 Nevada taxpayers still owed refunds live in Clark County.
That number is down from a year earlier, when more than 1,400 county residents were due unpaid refunds.
Undelivered refund checks average almost $1,550, up from $1,460 a year ago.
Nationwide, nearly 100,000 taxpayers are due refunds totaling more than $153 million. That's down from 112,000 taxpayers owed $165 million for the 2009 tax period a year ago.
To find out if you're owed a refund, call 1-800-829-1954, or visit irs.gov and click on the "Where's My Refund" option under "Filing & Payment" on the right of the screen. There's no deadline for claiming a refund.
Tulino cautioned that the IRS does not contact taxpayers by email to let them know they have a refund coming. Nor does the agency ask for personal or financial information through email. Such emails are often fraudulent attempts to obtain private consumer information. Don't click on any related attachments or links in such emails.
Each November, the IRS makes a public plea to connect unpaid refunds to their rightful owners. But that money match is only part of the high-profile campaign. The IRS also wants consumers to understand the value of having refunds deposited directly to their bank accounts. Direct deposit eliminates mail-delivery issues and gets taxpayers their money faster, IRS spokesman Raphael Tulino said.
Nearly 80 million taxpayers -- about 80 percent of the total -- received their 2010 refund via direct deposit.
Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at
jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.
