Now that tax season is drawing to a close it’s time to make sure that you have received all of the county and state money that you have coming to you. Thousands of dollars in unclaimed money stays with the state each year. This is usually due to incorrect address information or mail that isn’t forwarded to the correct person.
Martin Feinberg, Culver City Realtor, knows that every dollar counts and there is no reason not to seek out money that is legally owed.
According to the consumer financial advice website SmartAsset.com, the latest data available suggests that there is approximately $49.5 billion worth of unclaimed property in the United States. Culver City residents will be interested to know that a large portion of that belongs to Californians.
The California State Controller’s Office confirms that the state currently has over $8 billion in unclaimed property belonging to around 32.5 million residents and organizations. The state is required to hold the items and money until the rightful owner can be found, but they would appreciate it being claimed sooner rather than later. The unclaimed property ranges from 401(k) accounts to payroll checks, safe deposit box contents, and mineral interests.
For those who are interested in checking to see if any of this property might be theirs, the office has an unclaimed property website with a searchable database. People should go to www.claimit.ca.gov to be able to contact the business holding their property or to reclaim it directly from the state. The Controller’s Office recently expanded the database to include property held in bank safety deposit boxes, savings bonds, and military medals.
“Each day, my team is returning hundreds of thousands of dollars to people who had not known it was missing. Expanding the unclaimed property database provides greater opportunity for U.S. savings bonds and military awards to be returned to their rightful owners,” California Controller Betty Yee said.
Los Angeles County, which includes all areas of Culver City Real Estate, has its own website, but it is only for unclaimed checks issued by that county. Those unclaimed monies are mostly in the form of property tax refunds and refunds for the overpayment of services.
The amounts owed to individuals and businesses go from $30,291.36, owed to MBC c/o Steve Hassan CPA, to $5 owed to the Law Office of Margo Bouchet. Several Culver City residents and businesses are included in the database.
Martin Feinberg, Realtor, encourages all Culver City residents to check both the state and county government databases to ensure that they are not missing out on money owed to them.
To check the Los Angeles County database visit http://onlineapps.auditor.lacounty.gov/uncashed/uncashed_checks.aspx.