If you haven’t filed your taxes from a previous year, you could be leaving money on the table—and the clock is ticking. The Internal Revenue Service has issued repeated warnings that millions of Americans risk losing their tax refund permanently if they miss a critical deadline. In fact, over a million taxpayers are sitting on more than $1 billion in unclaimed refunds right now.
What makes this situation worse is that many people don’t even realize they’re owed money. Once the deadline passes, that refund doesn’t just sit there waiting—it’s gone for good. Here’s exactly what you need to know to avoid losing your money and how to act before it’s too late.
