Gripe about paying your taxes? If so, you are one of millions of Americans. The odd thing, of course, is millions of us also fail to get the tax refunds we are do!

Could you use some extra money to pay taxes and bills this year? You might want to look through your records to your 2003 tax return. If you were due a tax refund, did you actually get it? You might be surprised to learn that many people don’t. In fact, over 1.8 million people failed to claim billions of dollars in refunds for 2003.

How does $1,200 sound? What could you do with it this month? Heck, you could even fill up your car at the gas station a couple of times. Okay, maybe twice given the outrageous gas price increases, but the money would clearly help. Well, $1,200 is the average tax refund due to people that failed to claim theirs in 2003!

Two billion dollars is undisputedly a lot of mulla. So, just how did the IRS manage to get so much money that should really be in the hands of taxpayers? Glad you asked.

1. Your employer withdrew taxes from your paycheck, but you didn’t file.

2. You worked on and off and forget you paid taxes during one of the on times out of your paycheck.

3. A hot real estate market led to people buying and moving, but failing to let the IRS know where they went.

4. The EITC is available to low income taxpayers, but they don’t file.

5. Worked for a short time at a job, but didn’t get a W-2? You might have forgotten the taxes.

So, is there a rush to get out there and claim your tax refund? Well, yes, there is. The magic deadline is tax filing day this year. This represents the three year running period for the statute of limitations. Neither you nor the IRS can look back more than three years to fix a problem, such as this one.

2003 may seem like a long time ago, but a trip to the past can be profitable. If you could use an extra grand, and who can’t, you may be able to get it by checking your records for the year. Don’t assume you received a refund. Make sure. You might just be surprised.