What's New

 


New Regulation for Date of Death

New regulation concerning the date of death of a presumed owner of unclaimed funds:

2 NYCRR § 126.1 was adopted to establish the confirmed date of death of an owner begins the applicable dormancy period. If a holder receives notice or indication, within the ordinary course of business, that the property owner is deceased, the holder must attempt to confirm the owner’s death within 90 days. Examples of acceptable attempts of confirmation are: obtaining a copy of the owners’ death certificate, checking online death indexes such as the Social Security Death Master File, or researching a published obituary. If the holder obtains confirmation of the death, the dormancy period begins on the date of death. Holders should record the dates of the notification and confirmation. If attempts of confirmation of the owner’s death are not successful, the last date of owner generated activity should be used for dormancy. Valid activity on accounts with joint or multiple account owners may prevent one owner’s death from triggering the dormancy under this provision.

 


Coverage for Virtual Currency APL1319

Effective November 22, 2022, legislation was enacted to amend New York State’s Abandoned Property Law (APL), adding §1319 Unclaimed Virtual Currency.  

  • Virtual currency is defined in 23 NYCRR § 200.2(p). 
  • Unclaimed virtual currency is subject to a five-year dormancy period (which begins on November 22, 2022 for the first report for this new type of property).  
  • Holder due diligence, by mailing notices to the owners of record, is required under APL §1422.  
  • Identify unclaimed virtual currency using June 30th as the cut-off date, and report and deliver unclaimed virtual currency by the following November 10th.

Contact [email protected] for specific instructions to deliver unclaimed virtual currency.

 


Update to Gift Card Requirements Fees and Expiration Dates

Senate Bill 3467 (Assembly Bill 4629) was signed into law by Governor Hochul on December 10, 2021, to be effective on December 10, 2022. The bill amends General Business Law §396-i by further expanding upon the types of fees a merchant may not charge in connection with a gift card and extending the permitted expiration date of certain gift cards and certificates. Gift cards and certificates, other than promotional gift certificates, may still have expiration dates but may not expire earlier than the later of nine years after the date of issue or the date on which funds were last loaded. Be mindful that the dormancy period under the Abandoned Property Law has remained unchanged at five years. Regardless of expiration dates, these items are reportable as unclaimed funds once they meet the five-year dormancy period.

 


Submit Excel-formatted Report of Abandoned Property via Secure File Upload

Upload your abandoned property report using Excel format via secure file upload. Complete the preformatted spreadsheet, then upload the report details. The uploaded report combined with your Electronic Verification and Checklist (EVCL) and an ACH transfer; eliminates the need to mail anything in.

Email [email protected] to request a username and password.

Image of login for electronic reporting of abandoned property
 Image of upload for electronic reporting of abandoned property