Record-breaking year for unclaimed property

June 30 marks the end of the fiscal year for the state, and this is always a hectic time for the Treasury as we review figures, make payments and close the books.

One Treasury department that will be extremely busy closing out the fiscal year is our Unclaimed Property Division. It collected a record $52 million in unclaimed property this fiscal year. This is the largest amount of unclaimed money collected in a single year in the program’s 35-year history, beating our previous record by more than $3.5 million.

In addition, the division returned an all-time record of more than $21 million in refunds to more than 17,000 people. This is the largest amount of money ever refunded in one year to Louisiana residents, beating our previous record by more than $170,000.

Unclaimed property is missing money that becomes abandoned after a certain period of time. It includes items such as payroll checks, checking and savings accounts, royalties, utility deposits, interest, dividends, stock certificates and life insurance proceeds.

No matter how long it’s been since the unclaimed property was abandoned, Louisiana residents can come forward at any time and claim it.

Since the unclaimed property program began in 1972, the state has collected roughly $537 million in unclaimed money and returned approximately $175 million to the public. Approximately 75 percent of total collections ($400 million) and 84 percent of total refunds ($147 million) have occurred just in the past 12 years. Even though we’ve processed thousands of unclaimed property refunds worth millions of dollars, $365 million still needs to be claimed by Louisiana residents.

The more word spreads about the program, the more money we bring in as businesses learn about their responsibility to report unclaimed money to the state.

If you’ve never checked our unclaimed property database before, now is the time to do so. We update our unclaimed property database every day, so be sure to check for your friends and neighbors as well. Louisiana residents can search for unclaimed money online at www.latreasury.com or by calling 1-888-925-4127 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

To search for unclaimed money in another state, visit www.missingmoney.com.