IRS Stuck with $153.3M in Undelivered Tax Refunds

IRS Stuck with $153.3M in Undelivered Tax Refunds

By Michael Cohn, Accounting Today
The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday that it has $153.3 million in undelivered tax refund checks waiting to be sent to 99,123 taxpayers across the country.

In what has turned into an annual ritual for the service, the IRS said it has a fortune waiting in its coffers that could not be delivered to taxpayers because of mailing address errors. Taxpayers can still claim their refunds, though, and can probably use a little help from their accountants. The average size of an undelivered refund check this year is $1,547, which makes a nice stocking stuffer for the holidays.

Taxpayers who believe their refund check may have been inadvertently returned to the IRS as undelivered should use the "Where's My Refund?" tool on IRS.gov. The tool will provide the status of their refund and, in some cases, instructions on how to resolve the delivery problems with the IRS and the local post office.