Potential Owners Qualifying for Refund Must File Claims by February 28, 2019
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF.—Today, the County of Santa Clara Department of Tax and Collections (DTAC) published a name list of approximately 4,900 taxpayers who are potential owners of over $3.5 million in unclaimed property tax money on deposit with the County. Potential owners qualifying for refunds must file their claims by February 28, 2019. The list of names and claim forms can be obtained on the DTAC web site at www.sccdtac.org/unclaimedrefunds.
As the County of Santa Clara’s central collection agency, DTAC issues more than 500,000 property tax bills and collects over $6 billion on an annual basis. The unclaimed property tax monies come from a variety of sources including, but not limited to, reduced assessments (re-evaluation of assessed values), overpayments, and duplicate payments.
“We make every effort to refund the rightful owners of the unclaimed property tax money,” said Margaret Olaiya, Director of the Department of Tax and Collections. “We encourage taxpayers to file a claim if they believe that they may be due a refund based on their published names.”
The Department made attempts to contact taxpayers by phone and skip tracing regarding the unclaimed funds refund to the rightful owners without success due to various reasons, such as, returned mail, uncashed checks, refusal of the funds, and lack of response from notifications.
Many of the banks and companies listed were unable to apply the funds due to ownership changes as properties were repurchased or sold. Publishing the list on the County web site is another attempt to reach the rightful owners. This new online search on the Department’s website will be ongoing, providing eligible property tax claimants with the tools to search for property tax refunds where applicable.
Taxpayers can find out if they are on the list of unclaimed property tax refunds by visiting www.sccdtac.org/unclaimedrefunds. If they believe that they may be due a refund based on their published names, they are encouraged to visit the website to submit their claim form electronically online or print a claim form. In accordance with Government Code Section 50050, the list of unclaimed funds will be published in the San Jose Post-Record for two successive weeks – January 15 and 22, 2019.
For questions, contact DTAC’s Fiscal Services Division at (408) 808-7949 or tco-acc-help@fin.sccgov.org.
When a claim form is submitted, it requires certain information be provided such as the name, address, amount of claim, and Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN) or Assessment Number, along with a copy of a valid ID and/or other supporting documents to the claim.
All claims must be filed by February 28, 2019. After the deadline, unclaimed money in the Property Tax Trust Fund will be transferred to the County General Fund.
