November 5, 2009

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for more than 107,000 taxpayers who are missing regular refund checks totaling more than $123.5 million.

In Kansas, 708 regular refund checks, worth more than $592,000 were returned by the U.S. Postal Service due to mailing address errors. That’s an average refund of $837.

“We want to get this money to the people it belongs to,” said Michael Devine, IRS spokesperson. “Checks are often returned to the IRS because a life change – such as a marriage or divorce – causes an address change,” said Devine.

To find out if you have a refund waiting, visit the IRS.gov web site and click on Where's My Refund? To use this self-service tool, taxpayers need to enter information from their 2008 tax return to see the status of their refund check. If you are in Kansas you can click here for a list.

Taxpayers without access to the Internet who think they may be missing a refund check can call the IRS Refund Hotline at (800) 829–1954, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Taxpayers who have moved since filing their last tax return can ensure the IRS has their correct address by filing Form 8822, Change of Address, with the IRS. Download the form from the IRS.gov Web site or request it by calling 1-800-829-3676.

Devine said taxpayers can avoid undelivered tax refunds by choosing Direct Deposit and have them sent directly into a personal checking or savings account.