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IRS seeks to return $5 million in undeliverable refunds (45 Dyer County residents owed money)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for Tennessee taxpayers who are missing more than 5,800 economic stimulus checks totaling about $3.3 million and nearly 2,000 regular refund checks totaling about $1.7 million that were returned by the U.S. Postal Service due to mailing address errors.

Nationwide, more than 279,000 economic stimulus checks totaling about $163 million and more than 104,000 regular refund checks totaling about $103 million were returned to the IRS.

"Just a simple address update will allow the IRS to get this money into the hands of its owners," said IRS spokesman Dan Boone.

All a taxpayer has to do is update his or her address once. The IRS will then send out all checks due.

Stimulus checks

It is crucial that taxpayers who may be due a stimulus check update their addresses with the IRS by Nov. 28, 2008. By law, economic stimulus checks must be sent out by Dec. 31 of this year. The undeliverable economic stimulus checks average $583.

The "Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.?" tool on IRS.gov is the quickest and easiest way for a taxpayer to check the status of a stimulus check and receive instructions on how to update his or her address. Taxpayers without Internet access should call 1-866-234-2942.

The regular refund checks that were returned to the IRS average $884 in Tennessee. These checks are resent as soon as taxpayers update their address.

Taxpayers can update their addresses with the "Error! Hyperlink reference not valid." tool on IRS.gov. It enables taxpayers to check the status of their refunds. A taxpayer must submit his or her Social Security number, filing status and amount of refund shown on their 2007 return. The tool will provide the status of their refund and in some cases provide instructions on how to resolve delivery problems.

Taxpayers checking on a refund over the phone will be given instructions on how to update their addresses. Taxpayers can access a telephone version of "Where's My Refund?" by calling 1-800-829-1954.

Taxpayers not sure of which type of check they may be due should check on a potential economic stimulus check first because of the looming deadline. See instructions above.

The vast majority of checks mailed out by the IRS reach their rightful owner every year. Only a very small percent are returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable.

Through September 2008, the government distributed 116 million economic stimulus payments with only about 279,000 checks being undeliverable. Meanwhile, the IRS has distributed more than 105 million regular refunds this year with only about 104,000 being undeliverable. In both cases, well under 1 percent of refunds or stimulus checks were undeliverable.

The IRS encourages taxpayers to choose direct deposit when they file their return because it puts an end to lost, stolen or undeliverable checks. Taxpayers can receive refunds directly into personal checking or savings accounts. Direct deposit is available for filers of both paper and electronic returns.

The IRS also encourages taxpayers to file their tax returns electronically because e-file eliminates the risk of lost paper returns. E-file also reduces errors and speeds up refunds.

The IRS has 7,815 checks worth about $5 million waiting for Tennesseans and there are 45 people in Dyer County who can get a check from the IRS by just giving them a corrected address.

The checks include Economic Stimulus Payments (ESPs) and regular tax refunds. Note there is a deadline of Nov. 28 to do a change of address for an ESP

Below is a list of people in Dyer County who are due checks. Once a year the IRS is allowed to disclose these taxpayers' names in hopes of uniting them with their money

If they have moved away, the IRS is hoping someone local might know how to contact them and will let them know they have money waiting. If they still live in the area, this will serve as a reminder to them to contact the IRS with a good address so they can collect their money.

Below are the undelivered check stats and names for Dyer County:

Economic Stimulus Payments -- 41 checks worth $21,640

Refund checks -- 4 checks

- ALLMON, JAMES NEWBERN, TN 38059

- ATKINS, BRENDA G DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- BRAZZELL, JASON DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- COVINGTON, MARION R DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- CRAWFORD, RICHARD L & SARAH DYERSBURG, TN 38025

- CREWS, BOB I DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- DAVILA, ADAN DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- DELOSH, RONNIE L & CARLISS J DYERSBURG, TN 38025

- DEW, KIM DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- DUNCAN, DONALD K & MARY A II DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- GARNER, JOSEPH M DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- HARRISON, JAMES DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- HATTON, GREGORY L DYERSBURG, TN 38025

- HAYES, WILLIE M DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- HOPKINS, MELODY J DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- HUYNH, THAMH DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- JACOX, LOVIE M DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- JOBE, AMANDA DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- JOHNSON, ERNEST M NEWBERN, TN 38059

- JOHNSON, JERRY V DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- JUNIOR, AMY DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- JUSTICE, KIMBERLY DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- LAWSON, ELAINE P DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- LEE, TRACY D DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- LLOYD, TERRY L DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- MADRIGAL, SYLVIA DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- MCMILLEN, CHARNA DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- MCPHEARSON, TIMOTHY T DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- MILLS, JOSEPH DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- MURPHY, JONATHAN & DANIELLE DYERSBURG,TN 38024

- OLVERA, TELESFORD DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- ORCHARD, CHRISTIA NEWBERN, TN 38059

- OWENS, EDWARD D DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- PARMENTER, SARAH L NEWBERN, TN 38059

- PIRTLE, MARY NEWBERN, TN 38059

- ROBINSON, THURMAN & A JOHNS-ROBINSO NEWBERN, TN 38059

- SKAGGS, CHARLES JR DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- SMITH, ADAM DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- SNOW, MONICA DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- SWIMS, MICHAEL C & JENNIFER L DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- TYUS, AUTUMN DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- WALKER, DANNY NEWBERN, TN 38059

- WARLCK, CHRISTOPHER DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- WHITE, LINDA L DYERSBURG, TN 38024

- WINDLE, ANDREW R & SHARON A DYERSBURG, TN 38024

Comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on stategazette.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

HOW CAN YOU NOT BE MINDFUL OF YOUR MONEY.....MAYBE THEY DON'T NEED IT.......WOW...

-- Posted by DMASE on Thu, Nov 20, 2008, at 3:11 PM

could you add my name to list?

-- Posted by sid36us on Thu, Nov 20, 2008, at 3:41 PM

They must have mispelled my name, I didn't see it there!

-- Posted by Lil' Arkansas on Thu, Nov 20, 2008, at 4:05 PM

There were a lot of people that didn't receive their checks. It's not a matter of being mindful of your money- the IRS makes mistakes and checks get lost in the mail, etc. Also, the IRS had huge confusion in mailing some of the checks because of addresses printing wrong and things like that. Some of the people that haven't received theirs yet have been trying for months to get it straightened out because there was a "processing delay" that prevented the IRS from mailing out the checks or direct depositing on time.

-- Posted by grasshopper46 on Thu, Nov 20, 2008, at 5:04 PM

WHATEVER.....IT'S CALLED UPDATE ADDRESS WHEN U MOVE....THEY HAVE NUMBERS, WEB SITES...PLEASE....

-- Posted by DMASE on Thu, Nov 20, 2008, at 6:44 PM

Thanks, State Gazette. Now our local drug addicts can steal the checks from all their mailboxes. Great privacy thinking.

-- Posted by ExPatDyerburgian on Fri, Nov 21, 2008, at 6:49 AM

If you think getting through to the IRS is as easy as calling or going on their website, then you're a fool. And since you obviously didn't read my last post completely, let me reiterate- the problem isn't the people not updating their address (Which, by the way, an address can't be changed on a filed tax return until the money has already been returned to Sender to the IRS), the problem a lot of times is mailing errors on the IRS's behalf. And once an envelope gets returned to the IRS (usually a printing error that sent it to the wrong address) the IRS cannot re-mail anything until someone comes forward and gives them their correct address. Meanwhile, if you call the IRS about a tax return you never got, you're put on hold for hours and when you finally do talk to someone, they don't have a lot of information they can give you. If you go to the website, you'll eventually find that your return was mailed back to the IRS and will be given a phone number and a case number to call the IRS and claim it, but then it's the same old thing- hours on hold until eventually you talk to someone that claims they can't help you and transfers you elsewhere. The IRS system is flawed. There are too few people manning the phones and too many errors on their part. Ultimately, they'll ask you to mail them a certified letter to claim your return after wasting days having you call various phone numbers that all lead you back to "I don't know." Look at all the stimulus checks that got mailed out BLANK this year. No names, no amounts, no nothing on them! It's not always the people's fault.

-- Posted by grasshopper46 on Fri, Nov 21, 2008, at 6:53 AM

UR TAKING IT TO PERSONAL GRASS...I DIDN'T READ IT CAUSE ITS TOO FREAKIN LONG AND UR 2ND COMMENT IS LONGER......JUST HAVE FUN WITH IT....

-- Posted by DMASE on Fri, Nov 21, 2008, at 11:20 AM

To grasshopper46,......... I enjoyed your comment be cause you explainded it very well to some one , some where that may not know much about this issue .. like others do.

-- Posted by different/visons/12 on Fri, Nov 21, 2008, at 5:55 PM

If they just want to give away money, I`ll take mine again.

-- Posted by riverman on Fri, Feb 6, 2009, at 4:12 PM