Dominic Perrottet med rel: Lost millions could make for a Merry Christmas

With Christmas fast approaching the NSW Government is looking to reunite close to $140 million worth of unclaimed money with its rightful owners.

Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet, said the Office of State Revenue (OSR) had $139,372,419 in unclaimed funds (as at 4 September) sitting idle in the State’s coffers.

“Money is always on everyone’s minds at this time of year with many of us sorting out our tax and other finances and the holiday season also just around the corner,” Mr Perrottet said.

“Currently, there are more than 305,000 items that are yet to be claimed and ideally we would like to see these go back to their respective owners.

“Often money gets lost when people move house or change address and fail to notify the payer, such as a bank, financial institution or utility company.

“Common items of unclaimed money include refunds, overpayments, cheques, interest payments, proceeds of sale and even unclaimed royalties.”

Mr Perrottet said more than $21 million in unclaimed money had been successfully returned over the last two years.

“A similar campaign in January meant that we were able to return more than 6000 items in the months following, totalling in excess of $7.5 million,” he said.

“Claims do vary and could be as little as $20 for minor dividends, though at this time of year every dollar counts.”

Mr Perrottet said unclaimed money could be found for free on the Office of State Revenue’s website.

“While there are a number of commercial providers that can help to find your lost money, I’d recommend everyone first try to find it for free using OSR’s online Unclaimed Money tool,” he said.

“Using the online search tool is easy and straightforward and it only takes around five minutes to find what could potentially be thousands of dollars.”