IRS trying to refund 385 Northern Nevadans $621K

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for 1,791 Nevada taxpayers who are due refund checks worth about $2.4 million after those checks were returned as undeliverable.

The checks, averaging $1,338, can be claimed as soon as taxpayers update their addresses with the IRS. In Northern Nevada, 385 checks are owed taxpayers worth $621,000, according to Raphael Tulino, media relations representative for the IRS in Nevada.

Nationally, 115,478 taxpayers are owed more than $110 million. Some have more than one check waiting.

The "Where's My Refund?" tool on IRS.gov enables taxpayers to check the status of their refunds and change their address online.

To use it, a taxpayer must submit his or her Social Security number, filing status and amount of refund shown on their 2006 return. The tool will provide the status of their refund and in some cases provide instructions on how to resolve delivery problems. Taxpayers also can access a telephone version of "Where's My Refund?" by calling (800) 829-1954.

A refund check is normally returned as undeliverable when a taxpayer moves without updating his or her address with either the U.S. Postal Service or the IRS.

The list of taxpayers this year rose about 21 percent from 95,746 last year. The sharp increase is due in part to the Telephone Excise Tax Refund. The refund is a one-time payment available on 2006 federal income tax returns. It was designed to return to taxpayers previously collected long-distance telephone taxes.