As the federal tax deadline looms, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that nearly 1 million Americans have not filed tax returns for 2020—with 88,000 of those being Californians.
There is currently about $1 billion in unclaimed tax refund money for 2020, according to the IRS, with the average return amount per person being $932.
Those who have not submitted 2020 tax returns have until May 17 to do so, according to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel.
“We want taxpayers to claim these refunds, but time is running out for people who may have overlooked or forgotten about these refunds,” Mr. Werfel said in a statement. “There’s a May 17 deadline to file these returns so taxpayers should start soon to make sure they don’t miss out.”
Mr. Werfel warned that some may not realize they may be owed a refund and encouraged them to look and review their records.
“We encourage people to review their files and start gathering records now, so they don’t run the risk of missing the May deadline,” he said.
Taxpayers usually have three years to file and claim refunds before the money goes to the U.S. Treasury. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline for unclaimed 2020 tax return money was extended until May of this year.
