Many companies like to report unclaimed property as soon as it shows up as abandoned on their books. I understand the desire to get the records reported to the state and out of your hair, but you may wish to slow down and let those records age.

Why is this important? One reason is that you are not allowing enough time to find your customers and reunite them with their property. If you can contact that customer, it’s likely your business relationship will continue and you’ll benefit from their patronage for some time to come. Another reason is that many states don’t want you to send records early without their express, written permission.

How do you know when the property has aged long enough to be reported to the state? I’ll give you a quick lesson on calculating dormancy. All states have a list in their handbook or somewhere on their website listing each type of property code they will accept and the dormancy value that is assigned to each code. Each state has a cutoff date, also known as the Period End Date that is used to calculate the dormancy.