Posted on Tuesday, 24th August 2010 by The Keane Organization

Welcome to Keane's Unclaimed Property and Escheatment Blog. If you like this information, you'll likely enjoy reading Keanotes, our premium quarterly newsletter. Reading Keanotes online is free and contains feature articles by our consultants plus detailed legislative updates that you won't find anywhere else. Click here to subscribe. Thanks for visiting!

Would you like to learn some of the core concepts of escheatment and unclaimed property laws which apply specifically to Delaware?

This page provides key information regarding to Delaware State escheat laws concerning reporting & compliance.
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Tags: Abandoned Property, Abandoned Property Law, delaware, Escheat Law, escheatment law, Unclaimed Property Law
Posted in Abandoned Property, Abandoned Property Law, Dormancy Periods, Escheat Law, Escheatment, Other News, Unclaimed Property, Unclaimed Property Compliance, Unclaimed Property Law, Unclaimed Property Reporting | Comments (0)

Posted on Wednesday, 28th July 2010 by The Keane Organization

At this point, you probably know that many organizations are carrying unclaimed property and are in danger of  escheat audits. But why do companies seem to be so willing to risk non-compliance? While many companies are aware of unclaimed property compliance requirements, some will just wait until they get hit with an escheat audit to do anything. Others understand the risk, but do not want to allocate the time or resources needed to proactively define their liability and reduce it.  And some are simply uninformed of their compliance obligations.

Debbie Zumoff, Chief Compliance Officer at Keane, recently spoke with John Cummings, Editor of Business Finance and Author of the BizTaxBuzz Blog, about escheat audits and why they seem to be in the future of so many companies.  Click here to read the whole post. 

Two of the downsides to not reporting unclaimed property are penalties and interest, which can quickly add up and even double the amount of underlying liability. For most companies, this can mean big losses. However, there are number of audit risk red flags that companies can look out for when it comes to unclaimed property. These include not reporting all property types, using inappropriate dormancy triggers, failing to perform state-mandated due diligence and many others. If companies are aware of these red flags upfront and keep them in mind when it’s time to file unclaimed property each year, they can better prepare for and defend against escheat audits and significantly reduce risk to their organization.

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Posted in Best Practices, Escheat Audits, Unclaimed Property Audit, Unclaimed Property Compliance, Unclaimed Property Reporting | Comments (0)

Posted on Tuesday, 25th May 2010 by The Keane Organization

This is to advise that on May 14, 2010, the Delaware General Assembly introduced legislation that proposes significant changes to the administration and enforcement of Delaware’s unclaimed property statute.

Specifically, this Act improves the administration of the Delaware Abandoned and Unclaimed Property Statute by providing holders with additional clarity and certainty regarding the enforcement of the Delaware abandoned property statute. Read More »

Posted in Abandoned Property Law, Legislative Alerts, State Escheatment, Unclaimed Property Compliance, Unclaimed Property Law | Comments (0)

Posted on Wednesday, 14th April 2010 by The Keane Organization

Some important news for you if you’re a holder following state unclaimed property law; Indiana has recently announced a change –

Indiana Institutes Unclaimed Property Amnesty Program

A one-time only “Amnesty” program to help holders of unclaimed property regain compliance.

What does that mean exactly?

Well, a lot of companies continue holding unclaimed property on their books – either intentionally, or more often, simply because they are unaware of the state unclaimed property laws.

This is not very surprising considering the vast number of escheat laws that apply to holders across the 50 states, and the break-neck pace with which they change.

But this type of program allows holders to voluntarily come forward to comply with the laws without the threat of paying hefty interest and penalty payments. Read More »

Posted in State Escheatment, Unclaimed Property Audit, Unclaimed Property Compliance, Unclaimed Property Law | Comments (0)

Posted on Thursday, 4th March 2010 by Freda Pepper

This post pertains to the Delaware Abandoned Property Law, and more specifically to a recent lawsuit between DE and CA, Inc.

In a stunning turn of events, the State of Delaware and CA, Inc. (“CA”) have settled their litigation pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery.  According to the terms of the agreement, CA has agreed to pay to the State a staggering sum of $17,650,000., including interest and penalties.

This amount represents CA’s Delaware unclaimed property liability for all past reporting years, starting in 1991 through and including the 2010 reporting year.  The amount does not reflect any liability for equity property owed under the Abandoned Property Law.  The portion of the settlement amount that CA claims relate to (for reporting years 2009 and 2010) is $983,057.65.   Read More »

Posted in Abandoned Property Law, Escheat Law, Legislative Updates, Other News, Unclaimed Property Compliance | Comments (0)

Posted on Friday, 8th January 2010 by The Keane Organization

This Mississippi bill died in committee but shows how state legislators are proposing changes that make unclaimed property compliance more complicated for corporations.

The bill contemplated dormancy period reductions (which would increase the amount of property escheated) as well as a host of fines and penalties. Specific details of the proposal are shared below: Read More »

Posted in Legislative Updates, State Escheatment, Unclaimed Property Compliance | Comments (1)

Posted on Monday, 26th October 2009 by The Keane Organization

In an ongoing effort to educate finance, accounting and compliance departments about their company’s unclaimed property risks, the Keane Organization’s Unclaimed Property Services Division (UPSD) is offering a unique opportunity to connect directly with Keane’s subject matter experts. An online Audit Risk Assessment is being made available to those who are interested in a way to evaluate their risk and receive tips on prevention.

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Posted in Best Practices, Unclaimed Property Audit, Unclaimed Property Compliance, Unclaimed Property Reporting | Comments (0)

Posted on Tuesday, 15th September 2009 by The Keane Organization

This post by Gail Warner, President of Keane’s Unclaimed Property Services Division, appeared on Keane’s corporate blog, “KeaneObservations” written by Peter Teuten, Keane’s risk management expert.

I’m picking up where Peter left off last week regarding the topic of unclaimed property audit and how it relates to risk management and compliance.

The words audit and risk go hand in hand. The word “audit” alone makes anyone in a corporate finance or risk management department cringe and begin vigorous preparations (and palpitations!). But in the case of an unclaimed property audit, that natural reaction tends to be a mix of confusion and uncertainty. It’s much more important now that companies understand the drivers of unclaimed property risk because audits are on the rise. Depending on state laws (and the extent of some state’s budget woes), unclaimed property offers states an attractive source of alternate capital (you see, much of the money states collect from companies is often used on state programs that would otherwise not happen or would require the use of additional tax dollars).

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Posted in Best Practices, Escheat Consulting, State Escheatment, Unclaimed Property Audit, Unclaimed Property Compliance, Unclaimed Property Reporting | Comments (0)

Posted on Monday, 24th August 2009 by The Keane Organization

The Association of Financial Professionals (AFP) is hosting a web seminar about Unclaimed Property Audit prevention on Thursday, August 27^th from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET. The event features Sonia Walwyn, Regional Vice President of The Keane Organization’s Unclaimed Property Services Division. Sonia will be joined by Keane client Val Golin, Escheatment Spokesperson of ING Direct to speak on the topic “Unclaimed Property: Ensuring Compliance in the Face of Audit”.

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Posted in Best Practices, Seminars, Unclaimed Property Audit, Unclaimed Property Compliance | Comments (0)