IRS owes millions to South Carolinians, deadline to claim cash looms

(QUEEN CITY NEWS) — You could be owed a chunk of change. According to the IRS, nearly 940,000 people across the United States have unclaimed refunds for the tax year 2020.

Residents across North and South Carolina face a May 17 deadline to submit their tax returns.

Currently, the IRS estimates more than $1 billion in refunds remain unclaimed because people haven’t filed their 2020 tax returns. The average median refund is $932 for 2020.

In North Carolina, an estimated 27,500 residents are looking at a potential refund of $895. Right now, potentially more than $29 million has gone unclaimed in the Tar Heel State.

In South Carolina, an estimated 11,900 residents could be looking at a refund of around $840. There is potentially more than $12 million that has gone unclaimed, the IRS reports.

“There’s money remaining on the table for hundreds of thousands of people who haven’t filed 2020 tax returns,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement. “We want taxpayers to claim these refunds, but time is running out for people who may have overlooked or forgotten about these refunds. There’s a May 17 deadline to file these returns.”

Under the law, taxpayers have three years to file and claim their tax refunds. If they don’t file within three years, the money becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury.

An Extended Deadline

For 2020 tax returns, the IRS said people have more time than usual to file to claim their refunds. Typically, the normal filing deadline to claim old refunds falls around the April tax deadline, which is April 15 this year for 2023 tax returns.

However, the three-year window for 2020 unfiled returns was postponed to May 17, 2024, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS explained.

“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,” Werfel said. “People may have just overlooked these, including students, part-time workers, and others. Some people may not realize they may be owed a refund.”

Current and prior year tax forms, and instructions, are available on IRS.gov, click here!