Claim Your 2003 Tax Refund or Lose It
The only good thing about doing taxes is getting a nice, big tax refund. Unfortunately, nearly 2 million taxpayers failed to claim theirs in 2003.
Feel like taxes are too high? Of course you do. It is a god given write of Americans to complain about taxes. That being said, you lose the right to complain if you don?t follow up on money the IRS owes you. For the 2003 tax year, 1.8 million Americans have failed to do so to the tune of a whopping 2.2 billion dollars.
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!
Two billion dollars is undisputedly a lot of mulla. So, just how did the IRS manage to get so much money that should really be in the hands of taxpayers? Glad you asked.
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. Tax refunds are not forwarded by the postal office if you moved.
4. The EITC is available to low income taxpayers, but they don?t file.
5. You accidentally made to quarterly payments instead of one.
So, is there a rush to get out there and claim your tax refund? Well, yes, there is. The magic deadline is tax filing day this year. This represents the three year running period for the statute of limitations. Neither you nor the IRS can look back more than three years to fix a problem, such as this one.
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 - your resource for tax articles.
This and other unique content refund articles are available with free reprint rights.
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