Indiana Amnesty Program Provides Advantages for Companies With Unreported Unclaimed Property

INDIANAPOLIS, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A state tax expert for Ryan, the leading tax services firm in North America, recommends companies nationwide consider taking advantage of the Amnesty Program ("Program") currently being offered by the State of Indiana for unreported unclaimed property. The Program runs from March 1 through November 1, 2010.

"Abandoned and unclaimed property tax laws are some of the most complicated and time consuming to deal with," said Noel E. Hall, Jr., Ryan Principal and Abandoned and Unclaimed Property Practice Leader. "Audits in Indiana, which are conducted at the taxpayer's expense, can go back for a decade and result in millions of dollars in liabilities."

According to a study by SallieMae, since 1983, 45 states and the District of Columbia have conducted more than 85 tax amnesty programs with recoveries exceeding $10 billion. Indiana's 2005 Amnesty Program generated more than $255 million in revenue, four times greater than the original projections.  

"Unclaimed property provides many states with the working capital that would otherwise have to be raised through taxes," said Mr. Hall.

"Indiana law requires companies to go through several steps prior to filing a report on unclaimed property," said Mr. Hall. "This includes performing due diligence no less than 60, and no more than 120 days before filing a report.  First-class mail notifications must be sent to property owners at their last known address."

"Today, both large and small companies are increasingly being targeted with aggressive collections efforts," said Mr. Hall. "Auditors are looking for un-cashed payroll checks, accounts payable checks, accounts receivable credit balances, unredeemed rebates and refunds, unused gift certificates or store value cards, credit memos, and customer overpayments."  The newest and very contentious property types to reach the purview of the auditor's radar are un-invoiced inventory receipts or commonly termed "over goods" or GR/IR (for those operating on the SAP® platform).

Ryan's dedicated Abandoned and Unclaimed Property practice provides a national resource for dealing with client issues in all 53 jurisdictions, including audit defense, voluntary disclosure agreements, development of best practices, exposure quantification, and ongoing annual compliance services.

Public companies face additional responsibilities under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules requiring sound accounting practices, which require proper accounting for unclaimed property liabilities.

About Ryan

Ryan is the leading tax services firm in North America, with the largest transaction tax practice in the United States and Canada. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company provides a comprehensive range of state, local, federal, and international tax advisory and consulting services on a multi-jurisdictional basis, including audit defense, tax recovery, credits and incentives, tax process improvement and automation, tax appeals, and strategic planning. With a multi-disciplinary team of more than 800 professionals and associates, Ryan serves many of the world's most prominent Fortune 1000 companies.

SOURCE Ryan

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