Getting Started with Best Practices
Utilizing industry experience and our knowledge and expertise in the area of unclaimed property, it is Unclaimed Property Advocate’s promise to you that we can assist in providing high-quality compliance solutions. Our goals are to minimize your exposure and ultimately create a profit center through remediation, due diligence, and application of statutory exemptions. We will work with your staff to set in place, policies and procedures tailored to your company.
Risk Assessment
We will review your outstanding and dormant accounts to provide a state-by-state liability assessment. From this comprehensive assessment, UP Advocates can work with you on mitigation efforts, and finally, provide you with customized resolutions by state. Our experience in working with state administrators has proven effective in securing cost-efficient and effective solutions that meet each state’s requirements.
Policy and Procedure Creation and Review
As a holder of unclaimed property, your company is obligated to safeguard the funds until they are returned to the rightful owner or reported to the state. Having strong, updated policies and procedures in place enterprise-wide to maintain the funds are the cornerstone of a healthy internal unclaimed property program. UP Advocates can assist you in creating a comprehensive set of policies and procedures, or can review and test your current ones, and provide you with a summary of potential risks that exist in the current working environment.
Voluntary Disclosure
Voluntary Disclosure Agreements (VDA) are offered by numerous states to help your company come into compliance with its unclaimed property law. UP Advocates can assist with the Voluntary Disclosure process from start to finish, from negotiating the terms of the agreement with the state to submitting the deliverables. The benefits of a VDA vary by state, but can include a limit of look-back period as well as abatement or reduction of interest and penalties. A VDA also allows the company to control testing methods and review timing.
Audit Defense
If you find yourself being audited by a state or third party contingent auditor, we can help. Unclaimed property audits, particularly those that are conducted by third party contingent auditors, are often representative of numerous states and can last several years. It is important that you adequately defend against misapplication of state laws. In the past we’ve helped to defend companies when records are incomplete or missing, when the audit demands become strenuous on resources, and when settlement may be the best option.
Annual Compliance
Reporting unclaimed property annually to each state where a liability is held is a legal obligation, and should be part of your company’s ongoing compliance program. The requirements for reporting to each state can vary significantly, and be quite complex, depending upon the type of property being reported. UP Advocates has the software and expertise to be your fully outsourced unclaimed property annual compliance solution.
