The IRS may have an unclaimed refund gift for you
By Kay Bell • Bankrate.com

How many holiday presents could you buy with $953?

That's the average amount of the tax refund checks that were returned this year to the Internal Revenue Service because they were undeliverable.

Of course, that's an average amount. Your unclaimed check might be less, but then again, it could be more. And any amount of money would be a nice holiday gift as long as you let the IRS know where to send it.

In all, the IRS is looking for more than 115,000 taxpayers who are owed $110 million in refunds, mostly from their 2006 filings submitted earlier this year. The main reason the checks came back is simple: The taxpayers moved after filing their last tax returns and then forgot to let the IRS know their new addresses. In some cases, though, the addresses on the forms were illegible, so they bounced back to Uncle Sam.

Whatever the reason, the IRS has money that could be yours. And it's an easily correctable situation.

Some people will be able to tell the IRS of their new addresses electronically, via the agency's refund tracking Web page, "Where's My Refund?"

Others will need to mail Form 8822, Change of Address, to the tax collector. You can either download the form from the IRS's Web site or call toll-free (800) 829-3676 (1-800-TAX-FORM) to request one.

But take one of these steps now so that the agency can issue you a replacement refund check as soon as possible. The IRS says it will take between four and six weeks after it hears from affected taxpayers to resend the misdelivered money.

If you act quickly, you might get it in time to make a difference in your Christmas shopping budget.

Even if it arrives after Dec. 25, you'll have the cash on hand to pay the credit card charges you ring up this holiday season.

Tracking down your refund
The IRS's "Where's My Refund?" Web page has become one of the agency's most popular online destinations. Now it can accept change-of-address data from some filers whose refund checks were returned to IRS.

When you go to the search page, have your 2006 return handy. To access the online refund locator you'll have to enter your Social Security number, filing status and the amount of the refund shown on your tax return. If the money has come back to the IRS, during the tracking process you will be prompted to enter your correct mailing information.

The address-update capability, however, does have a couple of limitations.

The feature is only available to filers whose returned check was originally issued within the past 12 months.

Filers who check on their refunds via the IRS's Refund Hotline at (800) 829-1954 cannot update their addresses on that phone call, even if their returned checks were issued in the last year. In these cases, phone callers will be given instructions on what steps to take next.

And if you moved and simply want to use the refund Web page to let the IRS know, or you owed taxes instead of getting a refund, you're out of luck. The online address change option is available only to filers dealing with undeliverable refund checks. In these other situations, you'll have to use the old-fashioned Form 8822 to ensure future refunds follow you to your new home.