Unclaimed Federal Tax Refunds for Tax Year 2016

July 2, 2020

State-by-State breakout of possibly forfeited refund money

The Internal Revenue Service is once again holding a vast amount of money — this year it’s an estimated $1.5 billion — that was never sent to around 1.4 million individual taxpayers.

The reason? Those folks didn’t file tax year 2016 returns to claim their refunds. They have until the 2020 filing deadline, which in this extraordinary coronavirus-affected tax season is July 15.

As this blog post explains, miss that due date to claim your 3-year-old refund and Uncle Sam gets to keep your money.

The table below details just how much unclaimed money is due taxpayers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

State or District	Estimated Number of Individuals	Median Potential Refund	Total Potential Refunds*
Alabama	23,300	$859	$24,614,400
Alaska	5,500	$979	$6,754,900
Arizona	32,400	$762	$32,281,600
Arkansas	13,400	$822	$13,798,800
California	130,600	$816	$135,981,300
Colorado	27,500	$809	$28,276,500
Connecticut	14,300	$930	$16,213,300
Delaware	5,700	$878	$6,114,500
District of Columbia	3,700	$904	$4,224,600
Florida	99,000	$874	$105,706,400
Georgia	48,600	$792	$49,682,700
Hawaii	7,700	$932	$8,785,600
Idaho	6,200	$727	$5,876,000
Illinois	51,700	$909	$57,312,200
Indiana	32,700	$887	$35,129,700
Iowa	14,700	$908	$15,735,600
Kansas	14,600	$877	$15,706,800
Kentucky	18,700	$869	$19,517,100
Louisiana	24,400	$849	$26,410,100
Maine	5,600	$802	$5,482,200
Maryland	28,200	$873	$31,619,700
Massachusetts	29,900	$956	$34,261,900
Michigan	46,600	$853	$49,591,400
Minnesota	21,000	$803	$21,155,300
Mississippi	12,900	$777	$12,931,600
Missouri	32,400	$828	$33,522,400
Montana	4,600	$781	$4,582,000
Nebraska	7,800	$845	$8,081,700
Nevada	15,900	$859	$16,922,300
New Hampshire	6,500	$965	$7,474,300
New Jersey	36,200	$936	$41,268,900
New Mexico	9,600	$833	$10,219,600
New York	70,300	$958	$80,830,100
North Carolina	44,900	$833	$46,044,500
North Dakota	4,000	$949	$4,539,800
Ohio	52,900	$841	$54,542,900
Oklahoma	21,000	$866	$22,600,000
Oregon	12,400	$762	$21,237,200
Pennsylvania	55,200	$919	$60,505,200
Rhode Island	3,900	$926	$4,410,100
South Carolina	17,200	$769	$17,323,700
South Dakota	3,800	$899	$3,976,100
Tennessee	29,000	$840	$29,834,800
Texas	143,400	$898	$159,809,900
Utah	11,100	$766	$11,037,700
Vermont	2,800	$892	$2,897,400
Virginia	37,900	$827	$39,977,600
Washington	37,200	$918	$42,273,300
West Virginia	7,200	$921	$7,830,000
Wisconsin	19,900	$781	$19,483,100
Wyoming	3,400	$920	$3,766,100
Totals	1,418,300	$861	$1,518,154,900
			*excluding credits

If you think some of this unclaimed tax cash is yours, be sure to file your 2016 return by July 15.

And it bears repeating: Miss this deadline and you forever forfeit that year’s unclaimed refund.