Thu, Aug 8, 2019

Unclaimed Property Reporting in the Dog Days of Summer

With the passing of July 31, 2019 filing deadlines for Michigan and Texas, the spring 2019 unclaimed property reporting season has finally ended. Many corporate tax and accounting professionals certainly are celebrating this accomplishment with a well-deserved vacation. As we turn the page to August and head into the dog days of summer, the fall 2019 reporting season can’t be top of mind for most.

Unfortunately, there’s little time to rest as the fall 2019 unclaimed property reporting season began June 30, 2019!

Forty-three states with fall deadlines use June 30 as their “cut-off date,” which is the “as of” date for which a transaction must have been dormant for three or five years to be treated as unclaimed property during the fall 2019 reporting season.

Most fall reporting states call for corporations to begin the process of mailing due diligence owners 120 days before the fall filing deadlines of October 31, 2019 and November 1, 2019. That date is June 30. The thresholds for due diligence vary amongst fall states from $25 to $100, with many using $50. By now, due diligence letters should be in the mail. If they are not, you must act immediately.

In many ways, the fall unclaimed property reporting season is intense. Eleven states have final reporting deadlines on October 31 with California’s preliminary reporting deadline sharing that date and 30 states using November 1 as their deadline. In a twist, Tennessee switched from a spring to fall state this year, enacting a November 1 deadline in one of the many legislative changes of 2018.

Making the final filings on November 1 is quite an accomplishment. With little uniformity in laws amongst the states, the fall reporting season is all about juggling various due diligence mailing dates and dollar thresholds as well as completing electronic and paper filing and payment requirements. It can be exhausting. The only saving grace of fall reporting is that the filing dates are uniform.

Many corporate tax and accounting professionals are understandably lulled into believing there is a break between the spring and fall reporting seasons. The truth is, as we’ve pointed out, unclaimed property reporting has become a year-round effort, and in many ways, the fall season is intensely challenging.

In this context, many corporate tax and accounting professionals will shop for an outsourced unclaimed property solution in July and August. After all, spring reporting season is the first experience many have with unclaimed property reporting. They realize a solution allowing them to do what they do best, and outsource the rest, makes sense based on the hours they spent on spring reporting.

The Duff & Phelps Unclaimed Property team invites you to contact us to learn more about our cost-effective and highly efficient unclaimed property reporting services. Our clients enjoy comprehensive outsourced unclaimed property support from our state-of-the-art Center of Excellence in Addison, Texas. All services are scalable, allowing clients to retain certain tasks, if desired. However, most leverage our full capabilities, including:

  • Data extracting and parsing
  • Maintained subledger
  • Real-time online access to data and metrics reporting via our new proprietary tool Unclaimed Property LINK or UPLINK
  • Dormancy and due diligence eligibility analysis with exemption review
  • Due diligence mailing and response management
  • Report preparation with signature
  • Filing and payment remittance

When coupled with our asset recovery services, Duff & Phelps unclaimed property reporting specialists help clients ensure their corporations are fully compliant while becoming profit centers.

Although we are in the dog days of summer and fall is almost here, it’s not too late to contact Duff & Phelps for help with fall 2019 reporting. We’ll take our vacations in November. So, contact us today.



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