Businesses and Unclaimed Property

We all know about unclaimed property for your personal assets. All of your tangible and intangible items that you may have forgotten about (CDs, bank accounts, life insurance etc.) or haven’t been claimed for a long time, will be deemed abandoned.  Eventually these assets escheat to the state.  Go ahead and check out www.MissingMoney.com right now to see if you have any unclaimed property out there that belongs to you!

 

Interestingly, I found out only recently that businesses can also have abandoned property for which they are required to file an annual report identifying items of unclaimed property.[1] This is due by October 31st each year whether or not the business has any unclaimed property to report.  This report is called the negative report which has no fee for filing but may carry with it significant penalties for NOT filing.  If you have a business either incorporated or have a business presence in the state of New Jersey make sure you visit the state’s website to see if you need to register your company and file your report(s)!


[1] http://www.wgcpas.com/news/alerts/846-tax-alert-new-jersey-creates-new-filing-requirement-for-unclaimed-property