One of the most important yet unappreciated jobs in a company falls to the individual who is responsible for filing the annual unclaimed property reports. As state deficits rise and many budgets are in the red, state Treasurers and Unclaimed Property Administrators increase enforcement to ensure continual influx of money into the state coffers.

Unclaimed wages is one of the foundations of unclaimed property reporting. Although it is one of the most reported and most “obvious” property types, the legislation and other requirements surrounding unclaimed wages makes it perhaps one of the most fascinating and frustrating unclaimed property types.

Join Marlys A. Bergstrom, Attorney, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP with 15 years of Unclaimed Property experience as she discusses the following:

• What’s UP in Unclaimed Property
• What’s going on?  The current landscape in unclaimed property reporting and enforcement.
• Hey!  Where did my dormancy period go?  The shrinking of dormancy periods.
• Peer into the crystal ball.  What does the future hold for unclaimed property compliance?
• What are and are not uncashed wage checks for purposes of unclaimed property reporting?  Looking at the data before reporting the data.
• Duplicates, voided checks and other errors
• Follow-up research
• Pre-due diligence letters
• The “Triple D”  (the Dreaded Due Diligence Letter)
• What is the correct format?
• Do all states require it?
• Does everyone need to get it?
• Can’t anybody read anymore?  How to cut back on the questions.
• Completing the Form and Remitting the $$$$
• Uniformity among the states
• Software, manual, or outsource
• To wire or not to wire
• State Potpourri
• Recent dormancy changes
• Exemptions
• Filing requirements
• Aggregation

Marlys Bergstrom, Sutherland’s Tax Practice Group

 
Marlys Bergstrom is a member of Sutherland’s Tax Practice Group, focusing her practice on unclaimed property compliance, planning and related restructuring, and audit defense. Marlys has more than 14 years public accounting and state auditing experience, including complex unclaimed property consulting projects for multinational clients in the high tech, oil and gas, wholesale distribution, manufacturing, retail, pharmaceutical, travel, healthcare and insurance sectors. Prior to joining Sutherland, Marlys was the West Region Leader and Director of the National Unclaimed Property Compliance Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers and, more recently, Audit Director for Verus Financial in Atlanta and New York. She has a thorough understanding of unclaimed property laws and statutes, and audit defense strategies, and she is proficient in statistical sampling methodologies. She is a frequent author and speaker on unclaimed property issues. Marlys is admitted to the State Bar of California. Her work is supervised by State Bar of Georgia members.