Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

IRS has refund checks for several residents

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for at least six O’Fallon taxpayers who are due refund checks. The checks were returned to the IRS by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable.

According to the IRS, the O'Fallon residents due refund checks include Karl J. and Julie K. Armstrong, Silvestre M. Cabrera, Brandon Esty, Brittany Henderson, Colin M. McHaney and Charles B. Ratliff.

"In Illinois, the average undeliverable refund is $1,023," said Sue Hales, IRS spokesperson for Illinois. "We’d like to get this money back to taxpayers as quickly as possible. All we need is an updated address and we can reissue the check."

Taxpayers can find out if they are due a tax refund by visiting the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov and clicking on "Where's My Refund." To use this feature, enter information from the 2008 tax return including the Social Security number, filing status and refund amount. Taxpayers will get the status of their refund check and in some cases get instructions to resolve delivery problems.

Taxpayers can also check on the status of the refund by calling 1-800-829-1954 and will be given instructions on how to update their address.

Hales said many times refund checks are returned to the IRS because a life change — such as a marriage or divorce — causes an address change. If a taxpayer moves and does not notify the IRS or the U.S. Postal Service, a check sent to their last known address is returned to the IRS.

After moving, taxpayers can ensure the IRS has their correct address by filing Form 8822, Change of Address, with the IRS. The form is available on the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov or by calling 1-800-829-3676.

Hales said only a very small percent of checks mailed out by the IRS are returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable.