The Internal Revenue service sent out an announcement on Monday to inform taxpayers that more than $1.3 billion in tax refunds are due to nearly 1.4 million people who did not file a 2006 tax return.

The IRS gives taxpayers a three-year window for claiming refunds for prior tax years - after that the refund becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury and the taxpayer misses out permanently. The deadline to claim the 2006 refund is April 15, 2010.

The law requires that the return must be properly addressed, mailed, and postmarked by the deadline. There is no penalty for filing a late tax return if the taxpayer qualifies for a refund. But the IRS warns that in order to claim a 2006 refund that may be due, the taxpayer must have filed a return for tax years 2007 and 2008.

Back-year tax returns cannot be filed electronically. But taxpayers can still get their money faster by opting to have their refund deposited directly into their checking or savings account, instead of waiting for a check in the mail.

The IRS said that some people may not have filed because they had too little income to require filing a tax return even though they had taxes withheld from their wages or made quarterly estimated payments. The IRS estimates that the median unclaimed refund for tax-year 2006 is $604, not including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or other tax credits.

The IRS believes that many low-and-moderate income workers may not have claimed the EITC, a program that helps individuals and families whose incomes are below certain thresholds, which in 2006 were $38,348 for those with two or more children, $34,001 for people with one child and $14,120 for those with no children. For more information, visit the EITC Home Page.

The IRS also warns that the refund will be applied to any amounts still owed to the IRS and may be used to satisfy unpaid child support or past due federal debts such as student loans.

If you need copies of tax documents such as W-2, 1098, 1099, or 5498 for previous tax years, request them from the issuing employer, bank, or other payer. If that isn't successful, you can get a summary of these documents from the IRS for free by filing Request for Transcript of Tax Return, Form 4506-T or by calling the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.

If you need to request tax forms, you can get them on the Forms and Publications page at www.IRS.gov or by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM.




Source:
Internal Revenue Service