The Top 5 Ways to Stay Ahead of Unclaimed Property

Sovos
April 28, 2020

This blog was last updated on February 23, 2021

Unclaimed property compliance is a year-round job. Preparations must be made monthly in order to stay compliant. Below are the top 5 ways you can stay ahead of your unclaimed property obligations, before they turn into penalties.

1. Review procedures and document them: A lack of good audit trails and procedure documentation is commonplace in the world of unclaimed property. This adds disorganization to your compliance process and exposes your business to risk.

2. Use an automation tool: If you are trying to manage this manually, consider a web-based automation tool with compliance intelligence and comprehensive audit tracking capabilities. If you already have an automation tool in place, now is a great time to review those areas where manual work is still impacting your ability to effectively and efficiently manage the process. The less manual your process is, the better it is for you and your business.

3. Meet summer compliance deadlines: Several states have reports or due diligence requirements due throughout the summer months. Prepare your business to meet these deadlines.

4. Take inventory of dormant property: So many companies think unclaimed property simply takes the form of uncashed checks. The state statutes are much more comprehensive. Now is a good time to do your homework, review the types of properties that your organization could be holding and make sure you are reporting all property types.

5. Perform a cost benefit analysis: If you are managing this work internally, what is the cost? Would it make sense to consider unclaimed property automation software? Perhaps software could be a cost-effective way to maintain compliance.

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Author

Sovos

Sovos is a global provider of tax, compliance and trust solutions and services that enable businesses to navigate an increasingly regulated world with true confidence. Purpose-built for always-on compliance capabilities, our scalable IT-driven solutions meet the demands of an evolving and complex global regulatory landscape. Sovos’ cloud-based software platform provides an unparalleled level of integration with business applications and government compliance processes. More than 100,000 customers in 100+ countries – including half the Fortune 500 – trust Sovos for their compliance needs. Sovos annually processes more than three billion transactions across 19,000 global tax jurisdictions. Bolstered by a robust partner program more than 400 strong, Sovos brings to bear an unrivaled global network for companies across industries and geographies. Founded in 1979, Sovos has operations across the Americas and Europe, and is owned by Hg and TA Associates.
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