October 31 Marks Deadline for Businesses to Report Unclaimed Property to State

BATON ROUGE, LA – October 31 is the deadline for private businesses, financial institutions and public organizations to comply with Louisiana’s unclaimed property law and turn over money, securities and other intangible personal property to the state, according to State Treasurer John Kennedy.

“For the most part, Louisiana businesses do a good job of reporting unclaimed property,” said Treasurer Kennedy. “The Treasury wouldn’t have more than $330 million to return to Louisiana residents if they didn’t. But we’ve still got some work to do. I encourage companies to work with us to give this money back to the Louisiana residents it belongs to.”

Each year, holders of unclaimed property must file unpaid debts or undelivered securities with the state after a certain length of time, depending on the type of unclaimed property. Examples of holders include business associations, corporations, banks, sole proprietors, public agencies, organizations (both for-profit and non-profit), and insurance companies that have money belonging to someone else that is subject to unclaimed property law. The types of unclaimed property that businesses and organizations must report by October 31 include:

ONE-YEAR HOLDING PERIOD
Utility deposits, court ordered refunds, dissolutions, property held by courts and public agencies,
class action lawsuit proceeds, wages and payroll

TWO-YEAR HOLDING PERIOD
Rents, royalties, mineral proceeds and proceeds from demutualization of insurance companies

THREE-YEAR HOLDING PERIOD
Reaching limiting age under mortality table (life insurance), funds owed under life or endowment insurance policy, money or credits owed to a customer from a retail business transaction, gift certificates, shares or mutual investment certificates, dividends (stock or cash), stocks or other intangible ownership interests

FIVE-YEAR HOLDING PERIOD
Bank money orders, bonds, cashier checks, certified checks, checks, drafts or similar instruments, demand, savings or matured time deposits, fiduciary capacity, safe deposit box intangibles, other intangible property

SEVEN-YEAR HOLDING PERIOD
Express money orders or similar instruments

FIFTEEN-YEAR HOLDING PERIOD
Traveler’s checks

All unclaimed property reporting requirements and forms are available online at www.latreasury.com. Click on “Holder Information” under the “Unclaimed Property” section of the website. The website also has instructions for transferring stocks and securities with an unclaimed property report. If a company prefers a hard copy report, contact the Treasury toll-free at 1-888-925-4127.

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