Delaware Secretary Of State Unclaimed Property VDA Program September 2019 Invitations

The Duff & Phelps Unclaimed Property and Tax Risk Advisory Team received notification on September 24, 2019 from Kristopher Knight, Delaware's Chief Deputy Secretary of State, that the latest round of unclaimed property voluntary disclosure agreement (VDA) invitations were sent within the last few days to Delaware-incorporated companies throughout the U.S. Typically, Delaware mails approximately 200 invitations per quarter. By law, recipient companies must respond to these notices within 60 days, or they will be referred to the Delaware Department of Finance to commence an unclaimed property audit. Traditionally, Delaware uses third-party, contingently paid, multistate auditors to conduct unclaimed property audits. It has been Duff & Phelps' experience that notifications from Delaware are addressed to C-suite executives and often do not reach appropriate parties in time to prevent an audit. We believe it is critically important for all senior accounting or tax professionals at U.S. companies incorporated in Delaware to make immediate inquiries to the CFO and mail room staff to determine if such a notification has been received. Delaware's most recent round of VDA invitations were mailed on or about May 24, 2019. Subsequently the Department of Revenue mailed audit notices on August 21, 2019 to companies who failed to reply to the May 2019 VDA mailing. Any corporation that receives a notice...