Are you one of the 99 thousand?

January 13, 2012

For years the Internal Revenue Service has encouraged taxpayers to receive their refunds through direct deposit. The Internal Revenue Service recently announced that it is looking to return $153.3 million in undelivered tax refund checks. In all, 99,123 taxpayers are due refund checks for last year that could not be delivered because of mailing address errors. The undelivered refund checks average $1,547.

Taxpayers who believe their refund check may have been returned to the IRS as undelivered should use the "Where's My Refund?" tool on IRS.gov. The tool will provide the status of their refund and, in some cases, instructions on how to resolve delivery problems.

Taxpayers checking on a refund over the phone will receive instructions on how to update their addresses. Taxpayers can access a telephone version of "Where's My Refund?" by calling 1-800-829-1954.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently announced that New York State has over 7,000 state refund checks returned by the post office as un-deliverable due to address issues. These checks total about $14.5 million or an average of over $2,000 per check, sitting in a bin somewhere in Albany.

Direct deposit is definitely the way to go!!

(This article contains the current opinions of the author but not necessarily those of Brighton Securities Corp. The author's opinions are subject to change without notice. This blog post is for informational purposes only. Forecasts, estimates, and certain information contained herein should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. References to specific securities and their issuers are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended and should not be interpreted as recommendations to purchase or sell such securities).

IRS CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE: To the extent that this message or any attachment concerns tax matters, it is not intended to be used and cannot be used by a taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed by law.