The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has recently reported that about a billion dollars in unclaimed tax refunds from the 2020 fiscal year are still in its coffers, but the deadline to file the claim is fast approaching, about 940,000 citizens throughout the United States have until May 17 to file their 2020 tax returns and claim their share of the unclaimed funds, according to the IRS, The government agency estimates that the average refund is $932.
In March, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel expressed that there is money left on the table for hundreds of thousands of people who have not filed 2020 tax returns, and, as per the IRS, they want the taxpayers to claim these refunds, But, the time is running out for people who may have overlooked or forgotten these refunds.
Normally, taxpayers have three years to claim the old refunds before the April 15 tax filing deadline. However, the IRS extended that deadline until May 17 due to issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Werfel said in an IRS announcement: “People faced extremely unusual situations during the pandemic, which may have led some people to forget about a possible refund on their 2020 tax returns.”
The IRS indicated that they may have to withhold your refund if you have not filed your 2021 and 2022 tax returns, on the other hand, if you owe money to the IRS or any state tax agency, your refund will be applied to that payment and can also be used for any overdue child support or some other debts with the federal government that you have overdue.
How to Apply for Your Potential Tax Refund
If you think that the IRS may be owing you a refund, you will have to file your 2020 tax return, to do so, you have to get the necessary documents from the 2020 tax year, here we tell you about some of the most common
Form W-2: It is issued by your employer and contains information about your income for the previous year, which includes taxes withheld.
Form 1099: Typically used to report payments received for freelance work, but can be applied to any non-employer income, including interest income.
Form 5498: This is used to report your contributions to your individual retirement account.
If you still do not have these documents, you can make the request for the copies to your employer or bank, if you cannot get them that way, you can use the IRS ”Get Transcript Online” tool to request a free salary and income transcript, which includes the documents that you will have to submit.
You’ll want to file as soon as possible, because after the May 17 deadline, unclaimed funds become the property of the U.S. Treasury, according to the IRS. And this money belongs to the hard-working Americans that have filed their tax returns on time and paid their tax as corresponds.