The problem of unclaimed or lost property has been one of the major issues that the state is dealing with currently. There may be massive amounts with the government but the same money can never be utilized by the state for social needs. Unclaimed tax money and tax refunds have been a major contributor to the growing pile of lost money with the state treasuries. The U.S. government reports to have billions in terms of unclaimed IRS money, both with the state treasuries and the IRS. The federal government is now introducing new strategies to locate the rightful owners of the lost property and assist them in claiming the same back. According to the recent figures released by the state treasuries, the total amount of unclaimed money with the U.S. state treasuries reached over $50 billion, mostly due to unclaimed tax refunds with the IRS. Some of the biggest owners of lost money in the United States are California and New York. For anyone who did not file income tax return previous year, unclaimed tax refunds of more than $1.1 billion are still waiting to be claimed. As per the state agencies, most of the tax payers are even not aware whether they are eligible for the tax refund or not, which is why lack of knowledge is regarded as one of the main reasons behind the growing pile of unclaimed money. One main reason for property to become unclaimed or lost is due to change in name or address, divorce or break †up, expired postal order and sudden death. The state agencies are trying their best to educate the masses about the presence of lost money within the state by collaborating with different agencies and media resources in setting up education booths in different parts. The state is also organizing public fairs on a timely basis so that they can assist people in making on the spot claims. Whenever an owner fails to make a claim to own back his or her property during a given period of time, the property rights are transferred from the financial agency back to the state government for better safe keeping. The period for which the property remains idle or dormant is known as the dormancy period, and the procedure of the property transfer to the state government is called escheat. The state of New York is currently sitting on a lost property pile of more than $10 billion, whereas states like Texas and California or not far behind with lost money worth $9 billion within their state treasuries. The early initiatives like sending timely notices to the last known address of the owner were not of much use for the state as the records were always outdated. The states are still hard at work trying to return the large amounts of unclaimed money back to its owners.
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