Every year, the Internal Revenue service and various state and local governments issue a list of taxpayers that never received their refunds.
These refunds sit in the governments' accounts until they are claimed by the taxpayer.
There are numerous ways this happens.
Some people may move and not have any mail forwarded to their new address.
Some may pass away and have nobody to claim monies owed to them.
These entities owe this money to the taxpayer and if it goes unclaimed for too long, it may legally become the entities' money.
There are ways you can check to see if you are on a list for money owed to you.
If you do a Google search, you can find sites that will give you a way to search for your name and then instructions on how to get the money.
There are also many other situations other than tax returns that the governments will hold money.
Working in a tax department for a large company, I had the chance to see many things.
Most states have a requirement for payroll for the companies who have checks that have not cleared their bank be forwarded to them for unclaimed funds.
Sometimes people have no idea how they are owed money, but these companies do owe you.
If you wait too long to collect it, you may never see it.
There are even some people who get these lists and try to contact the people who are owed money.
The entities which owe you the money usually will not go beyond trying to mail it to you at the address they have on file.
In other words they do no follow up, like they would if you owed them money.
As a tax preparer, I have clients who are afraid of the IRS or their state and local governments, so they won't pursue these issues.
Often times you would only have to fill out a simple form that changes your address.
Sometimes you may need to go a little further to provide a lot more proof of who you are.
Visit The IRS to find out if you are owed money from the IRS.