IRS issues ‘last call’ for taxpayers to claim $1.5B in 2019 refunds

The IRS has issued a “last call” for U.S. taxpayers to file for roughly $1.5 billion in unclaimed refunds from the 2019 tax year.

The agency estimates that around 1.5 million people are eligible to claim a combined nearly $1.5 billion in outstanding refunds, with the average median refund estimated at $893.

The deadline to submit a tax return for 2019 and claim the refunds is July 17. 

“Time is running out for people owed a tax refund in 2019,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a news release, which stressed that the deadline is “rapidly approaching.”

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The IRS chief urged anyone “who may have overlooked filing” during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic “to act quickly before they lose their final chance to claim a potentially substantial refund.”

Taxpayers had “more time than usual” to claim refunds for the 2019 tax year because of the pandemic, the agency noted, with the deadline extended a few months past the normal three-year filing window to mid-July of this year.

“The 2019 tax returns came due during the pandemic, and many people may have overlooked or forgotten about these refunds. We want taxpayers to claim these refunds, but time is running out,” Werfel said in an earlier update.

At least 3,000 people in every state as well as Washington, D.C., are estimated to have an unclaimed refund.

Among the states with the highest number of individuals estimated to be due refunds are California (nearly 145,000), Texas (more than 135,000), Florida (about 90,000) and New York (81,600).