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If you haven’t filed a tax return in years, the Internal Revenue Service wants you – and not in the way that you think.

The IRS is actually looking to return $1.3 billion in unclaimed refunds to roughly 1.4 million people who never filed a federal income tax return for 2006. If you happen to be among those non-filers, you must act fast because to collect any money you are owed, a tax return for 2006 must be filed by April 15, 2010. Under the law, you only have 3 years to claim a tax refund; after three years, any money that would have been due to you becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury.

Lots of people don’t file tax returns for a host of reasons. Some people earned too little money, and weren’t required to file. They may nevertheless be entitled to a refund, based on taxes paid or tax credits for which they were eligible. At other times, however, people don’t file a return simply because they owe money – or they’re scared that they may owe money. Even if you owe the IRS, chances are you can work out a payment plan to clear up past-due payments. If you didn’t owe money, and didn’t file a 2006 tax return, you don’t have to worry about penalties because penalties are only imposed on individuals who had taxes due.

According to IRS statistics, the typical unclaimed refund for 2006 is $604.

The states with the highest numbers of non-filers who have a 2006 tax refund waiting for them are: California (159,800 individuals); Texas (109,600 individuals); Florida (101,700 individuals); and New York (76,700 individuals).

What’s more, many people who didn’t file their taxes a few years ago may stand to gain even bigger refunds if they made less than approximately $38,000 in 2006 and claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.

For more information about getting an unclaimed refund, check out more on this IRS video in English or Spanish.

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