When a taxpayer owes money on their taxes they need to pay the amount owed before the traditional April 15th deadline. If the amount owed on taxes is not paid before the deadline, then federal and state governments can impose a number of late fees and penalties. While there are penalties for failing to a pay taxes on time, there are no penalties assessed to individuals who are due a refund but fail to file their tax returns on time.

Tax season is a stressful time for many taxpayers. With hectic lives and busy schedules it is likely that an individual may not find the time to have their taxes prepared. As previously mentioned, there is the chance of late fees and other additional penalties for individuals who owe taxes; therefore, many individuals who are expected to owe money are more likely to find the time to have their taxes completed on time than those who do not. There are no penalties for taxpayers who are expected to receive a refund to file their taxes late; however, there may be another problem that arises. That problem is what is known as unclaimed tax refunds.

Unclaimed tax refunds are tax refunds that are due to a particular taxpayer; however, they failed to claim them. Unclaimed tax refunds often result when a busy taxpayer who expects a tax refund puts off sending in their tax forms until it is completely forgotten about. Although the majority of Americans look forward to the day that their tax refund arrives, there are still many others who allow their refunds to become unclaimed tax refunds. It is estimated that hundreds to thousands of individuals each year fail to file tax returns which would result in them receiving a refund. Filing a tax refund is a fairly simple process. For under thirty dollars an individual can purchase a tax software program that will make tax preparation easy and quick. Most taxpayers can prepare their own paper taxes by filling out a federal 1040A or a 1040EZ form. Each of these forms is likely to take less than an hour for the average taxpayer to complete.

A taxpayer has until three years after the year that they were supposed to file their tax return to claim their refund. For taxpayers to get their refund they have to file the federal or state tax return forms that they previously failed to file. Since the tax laws change from year to year, a taxpayer looking to reclaim their unclaimed tax refund must use a tax form for the year they missed. By visiting the website of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at , an individual can find and download old federal tax forms. The same can be done with most old state tax forms. To do so individuals are encouraged to visit the website of their state tax department and then download the specific forms they need.

It is hard to imagine why a taxpayer would not want to claim their tax refund. Unclaimed tax refunds do not benefit anyone but the federal or state government. A tax refund is money that is owed to a taxpayer because he or she paid too much in taxes. Why pay more money in taxes than you have to? Act now before your money is forever known as one of the many unclaimed tax refunds.