Blog
Many times in my twelve years of providing customer support, I’ve heard, “This is my first time reporting and I don’t know what to do. Can you help me?” My heart goes out to those people because I know how daunting it can be to figure out how to get a report to the state. […]
Finding the best way to manage unclaimed property risk is very challenging, especially if you are filing for the first time and not under state audit. If you find your company is in an initial compliance situation you need to immediately initiate an outreach program and make every effort to contact the owners of the […]
Many people hear about the exemptions that states allow for unclaimed property reporting, and they get very excited. Free money, right? What could go wrong? I will share what I know about exemptions and let you decide. Let’s start with a simple kind of exemption. Some states exempt reporting of gift cards or gift […]
Of course it is! A lost dog wandering the streets is fairly easy to identify as lost, and his location doesn’t change your ownership. You know that the lost and found box at the front desk is there to reunite you with something you misplaced, but how do you identify what is ‘abandoned’ or ‘unclaimed’ […]
“We have less than $1,000 to submit, we’ll just do it ourselves.” Does this thought process sound familiar? The thought is if it’s a small amount, it doesn’t matter nearly as much. It’s totally understandable for one to think along these lines. Unfortunately, the states may disagree with you. Regardless of the dollar amount or […]
Companies are always looking for simplified ways of handling the entire unclaimed property process. As an example, generating reports to be remitted to the state(s) has come a long way in the software vendor world. Electronic reporting can minimize or eliminate manual efforts such as downloading state files to CD’s, printing coversheets, and mailing individual […]
Many people hear about state exemptions for unclaimed property reporting, and they get very excited. Free money, what could go wrong? I will share what I know about exemptions and let you decide. Let’s start with a simple kind of exemption. Some states exempt reporting of gift cards or gift certificates that do not have […]
Part of a 2017 amendment to Delaware’s unclaimed property law has left many people confused. According to Del. Code Ann. tit. 12, § 1170(b), if the state feels that a report is inaccurate or incomplete the company may be selected for a compliance review. There is not a clear definition to which the policy applies in […]
Of course it is! A lost dog wandering the streets is fairly easy to identify as lost, and his location doesn’t change your ownership. You know that the lost and found box at the front desk is there to reunite you with something you misplaced, but how do you identify what is ‘abandoned’ or ‘unclaimed’ […]
“We have less than $1,000 to submit, we’ll just do it ourselves.” Does this thought process sound familiar? The thought is if it’s a small amount, it doesn’t matter nearly as much. It’s totally understandable for one to think along these lines. Unfortunately, the states may disagree with you. Regardless of the dollar amount or […]
Being Partially Compliant is Better Than Not Being Compliant At All Every single company is required to not only file unclaimed property reports to the state, but also follow the law when it comes to conducting due diligence in attempting to locate lost owners, documenting those attempts, and not reporting the property as unclaimed until the […]
We have found that many companies who think they are in compliance when it comes to unclaimed property laws and regulations are not fully compliant. It isn’t until they are audited and fined that they find out what they determined to be compliance, wasn’t full compliance in the eyes of the law. The following notions […]
Preparing and filing unclaimed property can be a horrifying and confusing task for some individuals. It requires attention to detail with each jurisdiction’s dormancy calculation and reporting requirements. So, is there an easy way to compile and submit all your unclaimed property to only one state for the year? The answer is no. There is much confusion […]
An important part of unclaimed property compliance is sending due diligence letters. Based on your holder type, each state has a specific time window and dollar threshold above which you need to send them. Not only is this an expectation of the state, but it’s also good customer service. If you are a company who […]
Let’s face it, most companies have larger things to worry about than the dormancy period of uncashed payroll checks or researching state websites to determine if vendor checks should be escheated this year or next. What was the last activity date again? Yuck! Many of the organizations that have invested in unclaimed property filing software […]
If you or your department is responsible for the management and/or reporting of unclaimed property to the state, then I feel your pain. It’s a necessary and sometimes daunting task. Compliance is extremely important, but let’s face it….how much time are you currently spending on managing the entire unclaimed property reporting process? If you’re […]
Managing an organization’s unclaimed property can be a full-time job. With the complexities of regulatory requirements, the numerous due diligence and dormancy tracking rules by property type and state, along with due diligence requirements, also varying by state, record retention needs in case of an audit, as well as reporting to multiple states, the process […]
One of the things that make Unclaimed Property Reporting so complex is the aspect of Dormancy. According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators’ (NAUPA) website, Dormancy is “the period of time during which the owner of the property does not take action on his property”. This sounds simple enough except for the fact […]