Recently I’ve been writing about all the unclaimed funds the South Carolina Treasurer’s Office has collected and is holding for residents, businesses and various branches of state and local government .
If you haven’t checked to see if there are funds in your name, waiting to be claimed, take a look at treasurer.sc.gov .
But that’s not the only place the government is sitting on money people haven’t claimed. The Internal Revenue Service says many millions of federal dollars are owed to about 100,000 South Carolinians.
Why? Because those taxpayers didn’t file federal returns for 2020, or 2021, or both.
The IRS estimates nearly 12,000 Palmetto State residents are owed refunds from 2020, and up to 85,000 have not claimed the Recovery Rebate Credit stimulus payments that were linked to 2020 and 2021 returns.
Nearly 12,000 South Carolina residents have unclaimed federal income tax refunds from 2020. To get them, they need to file a return for that year by May 17, 2024.
I’m not sure why someone wouldn’t file a return, particularly if they are owed money, and especially considering all the free tax preparation help that’s available. But we can all recall that 2020 was a strange and terrible year, with the COVID-19 pandemic causing death and disruption across the country and around the globe.
“People faced extremely unusual situations during the pandemic, which may have led some people to forget about a potential refund on their 2020 tax returns,” according to IRS chief Danny Werfel. “People may have just overlooked these, including students, part-time workers and others.”
For those who didn’t file a 2020 federal income tax return, there’s still time, but a deadline is fast approaching on May 17 .
Nationwide, the IRS estimates there’s a billion dollars in refunds that could be claimed for that tax year alone. And that’s not counting the valuable earned income tax credits that many lower-income working families could also claim for that year.
The median unclaimed refund — half would be higher and half lower — is $932 nationally and $840 in South Carolina, the IRS estimates.
That’s not counting either the stimulus payments or the earned income tax credit.
Most people likely know whether they filed a 2020 income tax return, or not, but it could be harder to recall if all three of the stimulus/COVID-19 payments were received.
Not sure? People can check by creating an online IRS account (a photo identification is required) at irs.gov .
The three payments, together worth up to $3,200 for each adult, were issued originally in March/April of 2020, December 2020, and March/April of 2021.
Those who did not receive one or more of the stimulus payments directly could have claimed them on 2020 or 2021 tax returns as the Recovery Rebate Credit.
The stimulus payments were basically advances against that tax credit, so people could claim the tax credit on their tax returns if they were eligible for stimulus payments but didn’t get them.
The IRS website is also the place to go for tax forms, such as those needed to file a 2020 return.
Also, people who are missing key documents from several years ago such as W-2 or 1099 forms can get those from the IRS if they have established an online account by using the “get transcript online” tool.
