Complying with the myriad of abandoned and unclaimed property (“AUP”) escheatment laws is increasingly complicated. All fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands continue to increase their scrutiny of regulatory compliance of companies to ensure they are in compliance with such laws. The result is that many organizations are experiencing an increase in audits and stricter reporting requirements. Many companies struggle to establish a lasting process to maintain ongoing compliance and mitigate audit risk. Additionally, proactively searching and recovering unclaimed property owed to your business is a process that can be time consuming, nuanced and costly. PwC’s unclaimed property professionals can help with all aspects of unclaimed property such as VDAs, state audits, annual escheatment, recovering assets, and establishing internal policies and procedures.
Our proprietary unclaimed property compliance technology, AUP Holder, coupled with our experienced specialists and proven process, provides companies an end-to-end compliance solution, saving time and money. We can work with you to custom-configure AUP Holder and help transform the way you navigate the unclaimed property reporting process.
What is unclaimed property?
Unclaimed property is tangible and/or intangible property that has not been claimed by an “Owner” for a specified period of time (i.e. checks, credits, gift cards, deposits, virtual currency).
Who is considered the “Owner” of property that has not been claimed?
An “Owner” is the recipient (i.e. vendor, employee, customer etc.) of the property.
What is escheatment?
Escheatment is the process of reporting unclaimed property to a state jurisdiction.
Is unclaimed property a tax?
Unclaimed property is not a tax.
My company received a State Unclaimed Property Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA) Notice. What is a VDA and what are the next steps?
VDAs allow companies to voluntarily come forward and/or demonstrate compliance for years in scope. Typically, after responding to the notice the state and/or state’s administrators of the VDA program will reach to discuss next steps and the path to completion.
What happens if a state jurisdiction is holding unclaimed property payable to our company?
If a state jurisdiction is holding unclaimed property, a company can submit a refund claim with the state jurisdiction(s) requesting a refund and recover the property.
Can my company ignore an unclaimed property audit notice / state notice?
Even if a company is not incorporated in the state(s) listed in the Notice, has no business in the state(s), has a filing history in the state, and/or has completed a VDA/audit in the state, unclaimed property notices should never be ignored.
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