IRS has millions in unclaimed refunds

    The Internal Revenue Service is well-known for collecting taxpayers’ money, but now it wants to give some of those bucks back.

    The IRS is reminding people to check and make sure they’ve received any tax refund owed to them.

    Chalk it up to mailing errors–addresses that were hard to find, address labels that were illegible.

    That, says IRS spokesman David Stewart, is why more than $153 million worth of tax refunds have yet to be delivered to taxpayers across the country.

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    “In Pennsylvania alone, there are just over 3,000 taxpayers with undelivered refunds. Now that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of people, but it’s $6 million,” he said. “That’s an average refund of almost $2,000 per check, so we’re not talking about chump change here. We’re talking about serious money.”

    Stewart said Monday those statistics make the case for people to electronically file their taxes and have the refund sent to them via direct deposit.

    But, he warns people to beware of email phishing scams that claim to represent the IRS and come promising tax returns to people who just fork over their personal information.

    To check on a tax refund, go to IRS website.

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