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ARE YOU REQUIRED TO FILE A REPORT OF UNCLAIMED PROPERTY?
What is unclaimed property?
Unclaimed property is money, securities, or other tangible property
that has not been claimed by its rightful owner for a specific period of
time, usually five years or more. There are over 100 different categories
of unclaimed property. The typical unclaimed property for our client base
would be outstanding checks (regular or payroll) and credit balances in
accounts receivable.
Who is required to report unclaimed property?
All businesses may have unclaimed property. However, a business is not
required to remit the funds to the State of North Carolina as unclaimed
property until they have been held for five years. There are penalties of
the greater of 50% of the amount due to be remitted or $300 for failure to
file a report. (Interest is also added to any amount due.) There is no
statute of limitations and the State can estimate an amount due back to
1981 if there is noncompliance.
How do you file the report of unclaimed property?
The Report of Unclaimed Property forms and a manual are available from
the Department of State Treasurer, Escheat and Unclaimed Property Program,
325 North Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 28603-1385, or you may call (919)
508-5180. Most annual reports are due on March 1.
General Information
One method of tracking your unclaimed property would be to set up a
liability account and write off all old outstanding checks and credit
balances in accounts receivable to that account. Then you could keep a
subsidiary ledger with the details of each item.
The good news is that the State targets larger companies for
audits.
Do You Have Unclaimed Property?
The State of North Carolina holds approximately $200,000,000 in
unclaimed funds that have been remitted to them. Check out their web site
to see if you have unclaimed property available for the asking. It's
easy and fun!
www.nctreasurer.com
You can check other states escheat property by visiting the following
web site:
http://www.unclaimed.org
We have a limited amount of information in our office if you have
questions regarding North Carolina Escheats Property laws.
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