Claim Your 2003 Tax Refund or Lose It
Get a nice warm feeling when your tax refund check comes in? Well, you might want to check if you got it for your 2003 taxes. Over 2 billion went unclaimed and are about to expire.
Could you use some extra money to pay taxes and bills this year? You might want to look through your records to your 2003 tax return. If you were due a tax refund, did you actually get it? You might be surprised to learn that many people don't. In fact, over 1.8 million people failed to claim billions of dollars in refunds for 2003.
How does $1,200 sound? What could you do with it this month? Heck, you could even fill up your car at the gas station a couple of times. Okay, maybe twice given the outrageous gas price increases, but the money would clearly help. Well, $1,200 is the average tax refund due to people that failed to claim theirs in 2003!
You are probably wondering how so many people could leave tax refunds at the IRS. It is often a matter of record keeping. Most of us make mistakes here and there and they add up.
1. You just didn't file a tax return because of family or personal matters.
2. You worked on and off and forget you paid taxes during one of the on times out of your paycheck.
3. A hot real estate market led to people buying and moving, but failing to let the IRS know where they went.
4. You got married, changed your name and forgot about taxes collected under your old name.
5. You kept bad records of tax payments and believe you paid less then you really did.
Can you imagine just throwing 1,000 out the window of your car? If you haven't claimed your 2003 refund, you are about to do just that. After April 17th of 2007, it expires. That's right, you lose it and the IRS gets to spend it as it wishes!
2003 may seem like a long time ago, but a trip to the past can be profitable. If you could use an extra grand, and who can't, you may be able to get it by checking your records for the year. Don't assume you received a refund. Make sure. You might just be surprised.
Richard A. Chapo is with BusinessTaxRecovery.com - a directory of tax lawyers for when the stuff hits the fan.
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