Deadline nears for unclaimed '03 refunds

Nearly $2.2 billion awaits taxpayers who neglected to file income tax returns for 2003, but that windfall will be lost if they don't act by tax day, April 17.

The Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday that that sum was due to some 1.75 million people who didn't file returns for the 2003 tax season. The median refund is $611, meaning half would get more than that amount and half less.

It said some people who had taxes withheld from their wages or made payments against their taxes out of self-employed earnings had too little income to require filing a return. Some may be eligible for the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit available to low-income taxpayers.

There are catches. Refund checks will be held if taxpayers have not filed returns for 2004 and 2005. Refunds could also be applied to amounts owed to the IRS, unpaid child support or unpaid student loans. Under law, unclaimed refunds become property of the U.S. Treasury after three years.

In general, unmarried individuals with more than one qualifying child living with them were eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit if they earned less than $33,692 in 2003. Without children a person must have earned less than $11,230 in that year.

The tax agency said 200,000 people in California did not file returns in 2003, with an estimated median refund per person of $556. In Texas, 236,600 taxpayers could get median refunds of $654.

Current and prior year tax forms are available on the Forms and Publications page of the IRS Web site, http://www.irs.gov/. People can also call 1-800-TAX-FORM.