An Overview of Florida’s Unclaimed Property Voluntary Disclosure Program

Blog Post by Moyer & Osibodu

 

Like most states, Florida has a Voluntary Disclosure Program for entities wishing to participate and report their past due unclaimed property to the state. This program, gives both in-state and out-of-state businesses a window of opportunity to come into compliance with the state’s unclaimed property laws. In other words this program gives you the opportunity to comply without the fear of being penalized.

However, don’t just assume your company qualifies to participate in the program. The state of Florida requires businesses to first execute the disclosure agreement in order to participate in the program. Upon receipt of the executed agreement and required information, the state will review the agreement for approval. There are guidelines that companies have to meet in order to be accepted into the program. For instance, a company must not:

• Currently be under examination or audit by the state or its contract auditors;
• Have been contacted by the state to schedule an examination or audit;
• Have agreed to a state audit; and
• Have filed unclaimed property report to the state

 

If a company’s disclosure agreement is approved, the company will have three (3) months from the date of the final order to submit a detailed plan to the state, which will include the following:

• An outline of the disclosure process;
• Estimation calculations;
• State required unclaimed property report consisting of unclaimed property due to the state for the prior ten (10) years.

After a company has completed the voluntary disclosure process, the state will require the company to submit their annual unclaimed property reports on time going forward. The goal of the program is to get businesses, which have failed to follow the state’s unclaimed property laws in the past, into compliance. Some of the state’s incentives to companies include no imposition of penalty or interest and relief of liability upon payment and delivery of the unclaimed funds to the state.