Deadlines are quickly approaching for many businesses throughout the state and Jim McKeon, Unclaimed Property Program Manager with the Montana Department of Revenue wants to remind all businesses that the current reporting period for unclaimed property ends at the end of the month.

Montana law requires businesses to perform due diligence and submit the unclaimed property report if they are holding unclaimed property. The November 1 deadline applies to all businesses except life insurance companies, whose deadline is May 1.

"Each year, all businesses or anybody that's holding unclaimed properties is required to file with the state of Montana an unclaimed properties report," McKeon said. "For all businesses, the reporting period is July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 for this period with the report due on November 1."

McKeon said the reason for the deadline report is to give the businesses sufficient time to do due diligence and locate the owners one last time before they remit the unclaimed property.

"Most of the unclaimed property and probably the most familiar that most people would know about would be a checking account or savings account that you left in the bank, that you do not recall or remember had some funds in it, or you moved away and the account was still there and they couldn't locate you," McKeon said. "Our key emphasis is to return the property to the owners. We want to give the holder or the business the opportunity to locate the owner and get them reunited with their funds before they remit it to us."

McKeon said the department receives around $8 or $10 million worth of unclaimed property annually and gives back about $4 million. It is currently holding about $63 million that can be claimed indefinitely.

The department encourages businesses to submit their unclaimed property report electronically through the Montana ePass File Transfer Service and can do so by going to the Montana Department of Revenue website and clicking on "Holder of Unclaimed Property."

Jim McKeon:

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