DATE:
July 21, 2021
TO:
Secondary School Principals
Secondary School Financial Secretaries
FROM:
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Daniel Ellis, Director of Accounting and Audits
Jason Mott, Accountant/Internal Auditor
SUBJECT:
Unclaimed Property
“The Utah Unclaimed Property Act (Section 67-67-4a) requires that a holder report to the State Treasurer property which is presumed to be “abandoned” or “unclaimed” after the stated dormancy period.” For school purposes, unclaimed property is defined as property (checks, book refunds, lunch refunds, or other unclaimed balances, but not current school lunch balances) that is due to a payee but have never been cashed or collected and that are dormant for a period of one year as of June 30, 2021. Checks written BEFORE July 1, 2020 AND not cashed by June 30, 2021 are considered unclaimed property.
Every effort should be made to contact the payee and ensure that they receive payment that is due to them. If you cannot locate a payee, then the money must be sent to the State. It is preferable to void an old check and request the accounting department to reissue a new one. Schools may not simply “write off” a check and add the money back into school accounts just because it was never cashed, nor may a school take uncollected refunds and add the money back into school accounts.
Checks issued prior to July 1, 2020 that are currently outstanding should be voided in Skyward. New this year: please include the general ledger account number on the attached reporting form so accounting can adjust the proper account in lieu of you writing a check to the District.
All individual items that are under $50 per item may be combined and reported in one lump sum. For example, if you have 10 checks and/or unclaimed book refunds individually each for less than $50, then you may have one line item on the report for the total of those items. You should put “aggregate” in the column requesting the owner’s name, the total aggregated in the column of amount due owner, and MS99 in the property code column. You do not need to report each item less than $50 individually.
The reporting form that must be completed and sent to Jason Mott by Friday, September 17, 2021. If you have no unclaimed property, report $0.00.
Please call Jason Mott at (801)567-8388 with any questions.
