Millions Of Dollars Of Unclaimed Money Waiting To Be Returned To NSW Residents

Almost $300 million of unclaimed money is currently sitting in the state’s coffers, with the NSW government urging residents and businesses to check if some of it might belong to them.

Unclaimed money is money that you are legally entitled to, but where a business hasn’t been able to find you.

Managed by Revenue NSW, the money includes funds from overpayments, uncashed cheques, dividends, refunds, and other amounts owed to individuals, where businesses weren’t able to contact its rightful recipients because of lost paperwork or out of date details. 

Sydney’s city and Eastern Suburbs have the highest amount of unclaimed money, with more than $91 million waiting to be claimed, followed by Western Sydney with $76 million.

Currently, more than 800,000 items of unclaimed money  – ranging from some change to millions of dollars – is registered to a NSW address, waiting to be claimed at Revenue NSW.

An additional $394 million is also being held for people registered at addresses outside NSW.

Millions returned last year

Last year, the state government upgraded systems to simplify and speed up the unclaimed money process. including additional integration with Service NSW to help people be identified during the claims process, and the reduction of the timeframe for businesses who are holding money from six years to two, ensuring that money is reported to Revenue NSW, and returned to its owners sooner.

“Last financial year, Revenue NSW returned more than $21 million to its rightful owners,” said Courtney Houssos, Minister for Finance, Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement. “With these new reforms, we’re making it faster and easier for people to get what they’re owed.

“While Revenue NSW regularly contacts potential owners, incomplete data means people are sometimes missed. That’s why we’re encouraging everyone to take a few minutes to check online – you might be surprised with what you find.”

To find out if you have any unclaimed money, you can search the Revenue NSW website at www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/unclaimed-money.