The IRS said Wednesday it is holding onto nearly $22 million in tax refunds for an estimated 24,000 Oregonians who have not yet filed their 2019 tax returns. There’s only about three months left to collect before the government keeps that money.
Every year, the IRS puts out a warning that time is running out to collect money from previous returns. By law, taxpayers have three years to file and claim those refunds. Any unclaimed refunds go to the U.S. Treasury.
Normally, the deadline to file these old returns is April, to coincide with tax season. But 2019 tax returns — filed in 2020 — were delayed due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That means this year’s deadline has been pushed to July 17.
“With the pandemic taking place when the 2019 tax returns were originally due, people faced extremely unusual situations. People may have simply forgotten about tax refunds with the deadline that year postponed all the way into July,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement. “We frequently see students, part-time workers and others with little income overlook filing a tax return and never realize they may be owed a refund. We encourage people to review their records and start gathering records now, so they don’t run the risk of missing the July deadline.”
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The IRS says an estimated 23,700 people are due a total of $22.3 million. The potential median refund in Oregon is $801. That means half of the refunds are more and half are less.
But there is the potential for even more money to be lost, specifically for low-and moderate-income workers. They may be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit. That was worth as much as $6,557 in 2019,
Nationwide, the IRS says it’s sitting on $1.5 billion owed to 1.5 million people, with a median refund of $893.
In Washington state, the median refund is $934. In Idaho, it’s $758. And in California, it’s $856.
Those who are potentially eligible for EITC in 2019 had incomes below:
- $50,162 ($55,952 if married filing jointly) for those with three or more qualifying children;
- $46,703 ($52,493 if married filing jointly) for people with two qualifying children;
- $41,094 ($46,884 if married filing jointly) for those with one qualifying child, and;
- $15,570 ($21,370 if married filing jointly) for people without qualifying children.
Current and prior year tax forms and instructions are available on the IRS.gov Forms and Publications page or by calling toll-free 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).
State-by-state estimates of individuals who may be due 2019 income tax refunds
|
State or District |
Estimated Number of Individuals |
Median Potential Refund |
Total Potential Refunds* |
|
Alabama |
23,900 |
$880 |
$23,694,700 |
|
Alaska |
6,000 |
$917 |
$6,542,300 |
|
Arizona |
35,400 |
$824 |
$33,911,500 |
|
Arkansas |
12,800 |
$864 |
$12,586,100 |
|
California |
144,700 |
$856 |
$141,780,000 |
|
Colorado |
30,100 |
$859 |
$29,514,000 |
|
Connecticut |
15,400 |
$934 |
$16,198,400 |
|
Delaware |
5,700 |
$880 |
$5,754,900 |
|
District of Columbia |
4,400 |
$887 |
$4,550,100 |
|
Florida |
89,300 |
$893 |
$89,530,400 |
|
Georgia |
48,000 |
$826 |
$46,269,000 |
|
Hawaii |
8,800 |
$932 |
$9,197,700 |
|
Idaho |
7,600 |
$758 |
$6,996,000 |
|
Illinois |
55,800 |
$916 |
$57,591,300 |
|
Indiana |
31,700 |
$916 |
$32,115,100 |
|
Iowa |
15,300 |
$926 |
$15,492,600 |
|
Kansas |
14,600 |
$913 |
$14,753,700 |
|
Kentucky |
18,600 |
$906 |
$18,574,200 |
|
Louisiana |
22,000 |
$877 |
$22,274,800 |
|
Maine |
6,400 |
$876 |
$6,197,300 |
|
Maryland |
31,400 |
$897 |
$32,344,500 |
|
Massachusetts |
35,700 |
$966 |
$38,400,900 |
|
Michigan |
48,500 |
$888 |
$48,582,600 |
|
Minnesota |
23,200 |
$848 |
$22,387,800 |
|
Mississippi |
12,300 |
$820 |
$11,836,700 |
|
Missouri |
31,800 |
$880 |
$31,345,700 |
|
Montana |
5,200 |
$854 |
$5,144,900 |
|
Nebraska |
7,800 |
$893 |
$7,745,600 |
|
Nevada |
15,800 |
$869 |
$15,550,300 |
|
New Hampshire |
6,900 |
$974 |
$7,451,800 |
|
New Jersey |
40,500 |
$924 |
$42,035,900 |
|
New Mexico |
9,600 |
$867 |
$9,522,400 |
|
New York |
81,600 |
$945 |
$86,826,200 |
|
North Carolina |
45,800 |
$862 |
$44,426,600 |
|
North Dakota |
3,700 |
$958 |
$3,997,100 |
|
Ohio |
51,800 |
$868 |
$50,234,900 |
|
Oklahoma |
21,400 |
$897 |
$21,770,000 |
|
Oregon |
23,700 |
$801 |
$22,348,900 |
|
Pennsylvania |
56,000 |
$924 |
$57,572,600 |
|
Rhode Island |
4,300 |
$924 |
$4,468,700 |
|
South Carolina |
18,200 |
$809 |
$17,264,100 |
|
South Dakota |
3,700 |
$918 |
$3,746,700 |
|
Tennessee |
28,100 |
$873 |
$27,623,700 |
|
Texas |
135,300 |
$924 |
$142,235,200 |
|
Utah |
11,700 |
$845 |
$11,198,400 |
|
Vermont |
3,100 |
$901 |
$3,036,600 |
|
Virginia |
42,200 |
$869 |
$42,110,500 |
|
Washington |
42,400 |
$934 |
$44,823,200 |
|
West Virginia |
6,500 |
$959 |
$6,818,900 |
|
Wisconsin |
21,000 |
$834 |
$20,003,100 |
|
Wyoming |
3,300 |
$949 |
$3,534,800 |
|
Totals |
1,469,000 |
$893 |
$1,479,913,400 |
* Excluding credits.
