The list includes the names of people who filed taxes in Washington, Dakota, and Anoka Counties since 1984 and never received their tax refunds. Because of an invalid address, the tax refund checks were undeliverable and have not yet been claimed. Because refunds are never forfeited to the government, the IRS is required to hold them until they are claimed. These checks have gone undelivered because Postal Service regulations require that government checks be returned when the taxpayer moves and doesn't file a change of address form or if a person marries and does not have the check addressed to their new name.
Many checks are undeliverable because the address on the tax return is illegible or incorrect.
Sometimes people move and don't file their taxes again so the IRS never gets an updated address. And in some cases, people pass away and the executor of their estate doesn't know that they have an unclaimed tax refund. For all inquiries, a person should have on hand, the name and address as it appears on the return, social security number, type of tax return, year for which the return was filed, and dollar amount of the refund. For those who don't realize they have an undelivered refund, the IRS says it will forward the full amount due, as soon as a valid address is known. For many, this means the money will be sent automatically, the next time a tax return is filed.