IRS lists 1,378 suburban residents who are owed money

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Here's a twist: The IRS might owe you money.

The nation's tax collector released a list today of 3,618 people from Illinois who are owed more than $4 million.

Of those, 1,378 are from DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will and suburban Cook counties. A list of people owed money is at dailyherald.com.

"The average undelivered refund for Illinoisans is $1,107," said IRS spokeswoman Sue Hales. The money comes from Illinois residents whose refunds were returned to the IRS as undeliverable.

"As soon as we get an updated address, we can reissue the check," Hales said.

Nationwide, 111,893 taxpayers are due refunds totaling $164.6 million.

Taxpayers can find out if they are due a tax refund by visiting the IRS website at www.irs.gov and clicking on "Where's My Refund." By entering information from the 2009 tax return including the Social Security number, filing status and refund amount, taxpayers can find the status of their refund check and in some cases get instructions for redelivery.

Taxpayers can also check on the status of their refund and receive instructions on how to update their address by calling (800) 829-1954.

Choosing to have refunds deposited directly in a bank account avoids check delivery problems, which may happen because of address changes after a marriage, divorce or other event, Hales added.

Hales said the IRS does not contact taxpayers by e-mail about refunds. E-mails claiming to be from the IRS are common identity theft scams and recipients should not release any personal information to them.