Unclaimed Property

Manage risk and maintain compliance for unclaimed property.

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Take proactive steps with unclaimed property services

Many companies may not fully understand — or even be aware of — unclaimed property statutes and regulations. Unclaimed property laws for reporting and remittance vary by state, as does the way each state agency requests and shares information. Compounding this complexity, many states are cracking down on unclaimed property compliance through a variety of examination and enforcement initiatives including audits, self-audits, VDA letters, verified report and compliance notices and more. Case in point: California estimates less than 2% compliance with its escheat laws and as such now asks unclaimed property questions on state income tax returns. This information will be used to measure level of ongoing unclaimed property compliance in the state. It is expected other states will follow this trend in the coming years. Knowing this, it’s more important than ever to understand any potential unclaimed property liabilities and proactively implement compliance processes.  

BDO professionals reviewing unclaimed property information

Protect your bottom line

BDO’s experienced professionals help companies take proactive steps to manage potential risks related to unclaimed property. Backed by innovative technology including Alteryx, Power BI, FSI Track, among others, our team uses a proprietary approach to identify and quantify unclaimed property exposure and protect your bottom line. We strive to go beyond routine compliance tasks to implement best practices and uncover opportunities and issues before they pose audit risk. 

We have the knowledge, experience and resources to address all your unclaimed property issues in all industries, including refund review, feasibility reviews, policy and procedure implementation, global mapping, compliance report preparation and filing, audit defense, voluntary disclosure filings, due diligence, gift card consulting and more.  

How BDO Can Help

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Determine Risk 

Understand the scope of your unclaimed property exposure and internal control risks. 

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Develop a Strategy 

Leverage comprehensive feasibility study or alternative scoping process findings to design/refine your unclaimed property strategy. 

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Reduce Exposure 

Avoid risks by addressing compliance gaps, remediating transactions, adopting accounting positions,  upleveling due diligence processes. 

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Improve Policies & Processes 

Streamline tracking and reporting processes to stay on top of your unclaimed property obligations.

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Strengthen Internal Controls 

Mitigate penalties and interest assessments by mapping internal accounting processes to annual escheat compliance reporting.  

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Accurate Compliance Reporting 

Efficient preparation and filing of compliance reports bolstered by education and training.  

Unclaimed Property Services We Offer

  • Audit Defense
  • Feasibility Studies and Risk Assessments
  • Global Mapping Reviews
  • Due Diligence 
  • Refund Reviews 
  • Remediation Reviews 

Capabilities

We manage the filing of VDAs from start to finish, helping to maintain full compliance and negotiating with the local tax authorities on your behalf. 
 

Our process and state relationships will help alleviate costs, minimize liabilities, mitigate escheatment risks and provide customized services.  

The byproduct of the VDA process is we provide the training, guidance, tools and advocacy needed to maintain ongoing best practices.  

Harnessing the Power of Technology

Our suite of unclaimed property tools include: 

A central, secure location to share documents and collaborate with our team. 

Automatically prepares due diligence letters, tracks responses and reports unclaimed property to the appropriate jurisdiction in a timely manner. 

A proprietary series of data collection, analysis and exposure quantification templates for VDA, approved by the State of Delaware. 

A world-class database information platform to assist in organizing and analyzing unlimited data records to produce summaries and evaluate recommendations. 

Automatically extracts data from existing files and further enhances the data by adding filters, sorts, calculated fields, summaries and links to external sources. 

Facilitates efficient and effective remediation of full or sample population sets in voluntary disclosure, audit and compliance scenarios. 

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Meet Our Unclaimed Property Leader

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