Delaware’s Office of Unclaimed Property encourages you to “check for a check” on February 1st, National Unclaimed Property Day

Statewide, DE (February 1, 2024) – Delaware’s Office of Unclaimed Property has once again joined the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators’ (NAUPA) third annual National Unclaimed Property Day campaign to encourage all Delawareans to search for and claim unclaimed property. National Unclaimed Property Day is a nationwide initiative to help raise awareness to reunite individuals with their unclaimed property.

“I encourage all Delaware residents to ‘check for a check’ and take a few minutes today to search for any unclaimed property they may be owed on MissingMoney.com,” Brenda R. Mayrack, Director of the Delaware Office of Unclaimed Property, said today. “You never know what unclaimed property Delaware or another state might hold for you or a family member.”

Delaware residents should search for unclaimed property held by Delaware and other states through the State’s Unclaimed Property website (https://unclaimedproperty.delaware.gov/) or through MissingMoney.com (https://missingmoney.com/) to search across 49 states at one time. Depending on the type of property, owners may have to submit a claim or additional documentation to proceed.

Unclaimed or “abandoned” property can include money left in old bank accounts; uncashed paychecks, refunds, and travelers checks; unreturned utility deposits; uncollected insurance payments; unused balances on gift cards; and forgotten stocks and dividends. Every year, businesses are required to turn over these amounts to states after a certain number of years if contact is lost between the holder of the property and the property owner. New properties are added daily, so Delawareans are encouraged to search today and check back at least annually.

Delaware joined MissingMoney.com, a coalition of 49 participating states in October 2022. MissingMoney.com is a free multistate unclaimed property search website sponsored by NAUPA, which allows individuals to conduct one search across almost all states simultaneously. MissingMoney.com will display any states where there is a match and provide information and links to the official government websites to begin the claims process. The MissingMoney.com site directly integrates with Delaware’s claims processing database for real time information.

Approximately 1 in 7 people nationally may have unclaimed property held by Delaware or another state. Delaware has returned over $1.5 billion in cash and securities to over 70,000 claimants during the last three fiscal years.

Director Mayrack also reminds Delawareans to watch their mailboxes this time of year for owner notification letters. All companies or holders of unclaimed property are required by law to send a letter to the owner’s last known address prior to reporting the property to the state. With Delaware’s March 1 Spring Reporting deadline fast approaching, Delawareans may avoid the escheatment of their property all together by responding to these letters promptly.

The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) is comprised of the unclaimed property programs of all 50 states, including Delaware, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as several foreign jurisdictions. The organization’s objective is to facilitate collaboration and otherwise support program administrators in reuniting all unclaimed assets with rightful owners. NAUPA is an affiliate of the bi-partisan National Association of State Treasurers.

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Delaware’s Division of Revenue will begin processing 2023 individual income tax returns on January 23, 2024. As a result of fraud prevention measures that protect Delaware taxpayers, refunds will not begin to be issued until February 15, 2024.

Taxpayers are encouraged to file their taxes electronically as paper returns take longer to process. Taxpayers who file online may file for free at tax.delaware.gov or through other electronic filing programs. Requesting refunds by direct deposit will also expedite refund delivery. This year’s filing deadline for Delaware Personal Income Tax is Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

Taxpayers should be aware that Delaware does not maintain reciprocity agreements with other states. It is important that anyone who worked in Delaware, but was not a Delaware resident, files a Delaware tax return. Delaware residents who work out-of-state are required to file returns with Delaware in addition to the state where they worked. By law, Delaware employees should receive their 2023 W-2 employment forms by January 31, 2024. Those who haven’t received a W-2 by January 31st should contact their employer.

For filing information and more, please visit revenue.delaware.gov.

Seventh annual report highlights State’s continuous improvement accomplishments

WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Monday released the seventh annual report of the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) Board. Governor Carney established GEAR under Executive Order #4 in February 2017 to identify ways for State government to sustain its culture of continuous improvement by improving the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of public services, while bending the cost curve of government downward.

“Delaware’s economy is growing, and more Delawareans are working today than at any time in our history,” said Governor John Carney. “However, there is more work to do.  That is why GEAR continues to be a valuable program for us in saving money and promoting continuous improvement.  It ensures an efficient and effective State government that always puts Delaware taxpayers first.”

The report highlights key accomplishments and ongoing efforts across State government in 2023, that include:

• Expanding development of continuous improvement professionals throughout State government. Eighty-three practitioners from 16 State organizations are executing projects within a portfolio of 140 initiatives. Savings to the State are estimated to total $76-80 million over the life of projects underway.
• Achieving savings and improvements for taxpayers through restructuring leases, improving data analysis of school district enrollment projections, minimizing the debt burden for ex-offenders, modernizing the client experience at state service centers, growing the Delaware Communities of Excellence to produce a statewide literacy ecosystem, revamping unemployment insurance processes and systems, enhancing financing options for farmers, optimizing long-term care delivery, along with streamlining financial, human resource, and information technology systems.
• Continuing the GEAR P3 Innovation and Efficiency and Trailblazer Award programs that reward State employees who demonstrate successful implementations of innovative, cost saving, and service enhancing continuous improvement projects.
• Reviewing capital project processes within public school systems through the EdGEAR (Education-GEAR) team with a comprehensive review of the minor capital improvement funding process currently underway.
• Recognizing GEAR’s accomplishments through inclusion in Results for America’s – 2023 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence, a nationally recognized state benchmarking program, that the GEAR program will leverage to coordinate with other state governments that are pursuing data driven best practices.

The Board’s report, released each December, also provides policy and budgetary recommendations for possible inclusion in the Governor’s agenda and recommended budgets.  Several of the recommendations included in the 2023 report are highlighted below.  Governor Carney’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal will be released on January 25, 2024.

Recommendations in the 2023 report include:

• Sustaining participation in the Continuous Improvement Practitioner (CIP) Training program and creating project and process leadership training paths using the First State Quality Improvement Fund.
• Establishing job classifications within the State personnel system for project managers, Lean business process analysts, and other continuous improvement specialists.
• Supporting the Ready in Six permitting improvement initiative by investing in specific process improvements being developed with State agency partners.
• Investing in the development of digital government services to allow citizens to transact business with the State anytime, from anywhere, and on any device through the Go DE initiative launching in 2024 beginning with a centralized payment interface.
• Modernizing the State’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems (financial, human resource, and pension administration).
• Building upon GEAR’s foundation of business process management and project management tools by staying engaged with emerging industry trends in artificial intelligence, business process mining, and robotic process automation.

“GEAR was never meant to be a one-time study on government efficiency to gain a few quick wins and then rest easy.  The intent is to drive an ongoing culture change – integral to how the State does business while guiding the services of government,” said Charles Clark and Daniel Madrid, Executive Director and Deputy Director of GEAR respectively, and Bryan Sullivan, Director of Management Efficiency at the Delaware Office of Management and Budget. “This is why GEAR will continue to be necessary in the future – supporting an adaptive, highly effective, and efficient Delaware State government for generations to come.”

REVENUE ANNOUNCES NEW HSCA RATE EFFECTIVE JANUARY 2024

Statewide, DE (October 24, 2023) – Division of Revenue Director Kathy Revel today announced that businesses subject to the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Act (HSCA) will see a decrease in last year’s rate from 0.8389% to 0.675%. The new tax rate will go into effect on January 1, 2024, and it applies to taxable gross receipts from the sale of petroleum or petroleum products.

Legislation was passed in 2018 calling for future rate increases to be based on a lookback period. The adjustable rates cannot be lower than 0.675% or greater than 1.675% and are calculated by multiplying 0.9% (the original rate) by a fraction – the numerator of which is $15,000,000 and the denominator of which is the total collections in the fund during the lookback period (July 1 to June 30 of the prior year).

The HSCA was passed by the Delaware General Assembly in July of 1990 to ensure funding for the cleanup of facilities with a release or imminent threat of release of hazardous substances. The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has identified over 1,100 sites in Delaware as potential hazardous substances release sites.

If you have questions about the new adjustable tax rate, please contact Leo Regalado with the Delaware Division of Revenue at (302) 577-8254.

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Using Technology to Identify Owners Based on Recent Tax Filings is One of Several Ongoing Initiatives to Return Unclaimed Property to Delawareans

Statewide, DE (September 12, 2023) – The State’s annual MONEY MATCH Program automatically returns lost money to Delaware taxpayers without the usual need to file a claim or gather paperwork, Delaware State Escheator, Brenda R. Mayrack announced today. This week, Delaware will mail approximately 4,700 checks and return over $570,000 directly to Delaware taxpayers.

“MONEY MATCH demonstrates how state government can use technology to put money directly into the pockets of almost 5,000 Delaware taxpayers without requiring any action on their part – except to cash the check,” said Mayrack.

MONEY MATCH matches the State of Delaware’s unclaimed property database with verified address and taxpayer information so that lost money can be returned to its owner automatically and without requiring the filing of a claim and supporting documentation. In many cases, individuals might not be aware they were missing unclaimed property until the check arrives in the mail.

This is the fourth time Delaware has conducted the MONEY MATCH Program, which now occurs annually each September. In total, the MONEY MATCH Program has returned over $5 million to over 35,000 Delaware taxpayers.

MONEY MATCH is one of several ongoing initiatives of the Delaware Office of Unclaimed Property to increase the return of property to owners:

• In July 2023, the Delaware Office of Unclaimed Property expanded its MONEY MATCH Program to include the state’s volunteer fire companies, identifying and returning over $150,000 in unclaimed funds, without requiring paperwork or the filing of a claim, to over fifty of Delaware’s volunteer fire companies.
• On February 1, 2023, Delaware participated in National Unclaimed Property Day, a multistate awareness campaign of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) to encourage people to search for their unclaimed property. Last year, state unclaimed property offices returned more than 4 billion dollars.
• In October 2022, Delaware joined a coalition of now forty-nine states participating in MissingMoney.com, a free multistate unclaimed property search website sponsored by NAUPA. MissingMoney.com allows individuals to conduct one search across almost all states simultaneously to find their lost property. MissingMoney.com will display any states where there is a match and provide information and links to the official government websites to begin the claims process. The site directly integrates with Delaware’s claims processing database for real time information.

“MissingMoney.com has been an excellent tool for our office to return property to owners more efficiently,” explained Mayrack. “Delawareans are able to easily search for and submit claims for their unclaimed property, whether you use our website or missingmoney.com, which aggregates property data for nearly all other states.”

Unclaimed property can include money left in old bank accounts, uncashed paychecks, unused balances on gift certificates, unreturned utility deposits, uncollected insurance payments, and forgotten stocks and dividends. Businesses are required to turn over these amounts to States after a certain number of years if contact is lost between the holder of the property and the property owner.

While MONEY MATCH automatically reunites many Delaware taxpayers with their unclaimed property, not all types of property are included. Delawareans are still encouraged to search for unclaimed property held by Delaware at https://unclaimedproperty.delaware.gov/ or at https://missingmoney.com/ to search across forty-nine states at one time.

In 2021, the MONEY MATCH Program was recognized as a Champions Award winner among the 2021 Governor’s Team Excellence Award Recipients.

More information about MONEY MATCH is available at https://unclaimedproperty.delaware.gov/app/claim/money-match.

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