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.

Ever read those lists of the richest people in the world? You know, the billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Well, taxpayers are turning the IRS into a billionaire. They are doing it by failing to claim a couple billion dollars in refunds in 2003. Who would have thought people liked the agency that much?

I get a headache thinking of the things I could do with one billion dollars, much less two. I imagine the IRS feels the same way. Think of all the audits they could fund, but why the surplus?

1. Your employer withdrew taxes from your paycheck, but you didn't file.

2. If you left a salaried job and opened your own business, you can easily overpay.

3. You moved and didn't tell the IRS.

4. The EITC is available to low income taxpayers, but they don't file.

5. Worked for a short time at a job, but didn't get a W-2? You might have forgotten the taxes.

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!

I could always use an extra grand or so. How about you? A vast majority of readers should be nodding their head in the affirmative. If you are one of them, take the time to go back and check your 2003 tax records. You might just find the grand sitting there.