WFAA-TV

DALLAS - A recent discovery revealed that some property owners in Dallas County may have money coming to them.

Over the past few years, thousands of taxpayers double paid their taxes and the money still remains unclaimed.

Barry Annino, a real estate investor in Deep Ellum, said he found he had money waiting for him to claim after he received a letter in the mail from a Chicago firm. The firm told Annino he was owed $13,000 by a government agency and would tell him how to get the money for one-third of the sum.

“And it said, you better hurry or you're going to lose the money,” he said.

Not much later, he said a similar letter came from another firm. Annino checked the state's database of unclaimed funds and found nothing. So, he agreed to the firm's deal and was told the money was sitting at the Dallas County Tax Office.

Annino's tax statement usually goes to his mortgage company, but in 2005, a new law required that the county tax offices also send the property owner a copy too.

But in Dallas County that year, those statements did not get stamped “Duplicate - Do Not Pay." Annino's accountant paid the bill and so did his mortgage holder. Annino wasn't the only one though.

“We get several thousand a year,” said David Childs, the Dallas County tax collector.

Childs said the state requires his office to send out one notification letter, but that may not be enough. More than 2,100 taxpayers still have overpaid accounts totaling $1.7 million, and the problem persists.

Last year’s duplicate tax statements went out this time with “Duplicate - Do Not Pay” clearly across the document. Still, more than 8,000 people double paid their property taxes, and most still don’t know because a computer glitch has delayed the printing of notification letters. The notification letters are months behind.

“We have not gotten all the letters out that we should have gotten out,” Childs said.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. If the money remains unclaimed for three years, it goes into the general funds of the different taxing entities and then it gets difficult to get back, with the taxpayer having to request it back from each entity.

But Annino said he thinks the county should try harder to get the word out. Other county tax offices send several notification letters, not just one.

Annino said no one should have to fork over one-third to find out the county is sitting on their cash.

“It’s your money, and anything would be better than obviously what happened here,” he said.

Annino did get the out-of-state state firm who located his money to reduce their fee to $500, but the county says taxpayers should not have to use those services at all. While legal, the firms are simply profiting from people’s lack of knowledge about the tax system.

Childs said those who believe they may be owed money can simply call his office to learn if they overpaid and how to get a refund. He said there are six people who do nothing but handle refunds every day.

News 8 would like to hear from anyone who discovers they too are owed money. Please contact news@wfaa.com.