Is Unclaimed Property A Myth?

By Author: Nicole Anderson
Total Articles: 48
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Who can say whether unclaimed property is a myth or reality? This question has been haunting all of us for quite sometime.

Some of the usual forms of unclaimed property are payroll checks that were not cashed in, credit balances or refunds of the customer, shares or dividends, gift certificates, credit memos etc. All these things come under unclaimed property when there is no rightful owner to claim them or were abandoned by the owner consciously.

You can never know why is it that billions of dollars money is being labeled as unclaimed property every year. Whatever might be the reason, steps should be taken to locate the rightful owner of the unclaimed property.

Companies tend to ignore the concept of unclaimed property by calling it a myth. In reality, unclaimed property is the liability of every company however big or small it may be. They are expected to maintain the audit records of all the unclaimed property lying in their company. In the absence of these unclaimed property records, an auditor ...
... is entitled to make an estimate of the unclaimed property through secondary sources.

Companies should not consider unclaimed property as tax. According to Fair Credit Reporting Act, when there is a minimum credit balance in the account of the customer or if the record is few months older, then, the company is liable for that unclaimed property.

Companies should regularly file a report about the unclaimed property in their company. It is also their responsibility that they should pay back what all they owe to their employees or customers. All this unclaimed property should be protected by the company and an archive of the reports filed should be duly maintained for future reference.

Do not ignore the auditor's call about unclaimed property. Go prepared with necessary documentation. All those companies which fail to comply with the liability of unclaimed property and report the same to the government will have to pay penalties. Companies should often conduct internal audits to identify the unclaimed property in their company. In fact, a special panel should be constituted exclusively to take care of the issues related to the company's unclaimed property
.

Nicole Anderson offers additional information about unclaimed money at www.cashunclaimed.com. Cashunclaimed.com offers a FREE SEARCH for unclaimed money. Simply visit http://www.cashunclaimed.com to easily search for your unclaimed money today!