No cash flow? S$42.6m still awaiting claims from corporate owners

Singapore

COMPANIES looking to ease their cash flow situation in these difficult times may want to check out a government website where S$42.6 million, including the largest single sum of S$190,000, is waiting to be claimed by businesses.

According to the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the total unclaimed money amounted to S$274 million as at Dec 31, 2020, with about 80 per cent of the money belonging to individuals. The remainder or S$42.6 million is due to businesses.

Unclaimed money refers to money held by various ministries, statutory boards and organs of state because the owners of the money are not contactable. The government has a website that publishes unclaimed money at https://www.unclaimedmonies.gov.sg.

The Insolvency and Public Trustee's Office (IPTO), Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) hold the top amount of unclaimed money or S$42.1 million due to businesses.

These largely fall under the categories of unclaimed money payable to creditors of defunct companies under IPTO, corporate tax refunds from IRAS, levy bonds with MOM, vehicle-related transactions under LTA, and security deposits under IMDA.

The single largest sum of money unclaimed by a business is a corporate tax refund of about S$190,000. It is not known who it belongs to, as the MOF did not reveal the identity of the company. Neither does the website, where such money can be claimed, offer these details.

The oldest sum of unclaimed money belonging to a business is S$100 and this amount was collected from the business entity in 1997.

A random check by The Business Times on the website showed that mainboard-listed Sembcorp Marine and AIMS AMP Capital Industrial Reit (now known as AIMS Apac Reit) each have a refund with the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

As for the bulk of the unclaimed money due to individuals, the MOF spokesperson said, it is held by IPTO and from the estates of deceased persons.

The spokesperson added: "Agencies make all reasonable efforts to return monies to the owners. This includes sending reminder letters to the last known address, and contacting the next-of-kin or fund beneficiaries if these are known."

The refunds are made without interest.

Among the ministries, the one with the most entries of unclaimed money at 33,050 is the Ministry of Law - under which IPTO is a department - while IRAS topped the statutory boards with 52,845 entries, according to the website on Tuesday.

When claiming what is due, one just needs to go to the website and search using the name of the company or individual to see if there is any refund outstanding, and make the necessary request.

Unclaimed money is transferred to the government's consolidated fund after six years, but all valid claims will continue to be repaid - regardless of when the claims date back to.