CHECK IN THE MAIL AGAIN; 57,000 HANCOCK REFUNDS RETURNED

Some 24,000 taxpayers still haven't cashed in on the tax refunds issued earlier this year by the state of Missouri to comply with the Hancock Amendment.

The constitutional amendment places a lid on state tax revenue.

The Missouri Department of Revenue mailed out 2.4 million refund checks totaling some $376 million. It received back about 57,000 that the postal service said couldn't be delivered because the taxpayers had moved.

In the past few months, the Revenue Department has obtained more current addresses for thousands of taxpayers by checking tax returns filed this year.

People also have called the agency to report a change of address, said department spokeswoman Kay Dinolfo.

To date, 23,000 of the 57,000 returned checks have been remailed to updated addresses.

That leaves the department with about 24,000 returned checks. Included in that number are 320 with Cape Girardeau County addresses.

Cape Girardeau city addresses account for 250 of them. The undeliverable list includes 57 checks mailed to Jackson addresses, seven to Oak Ridge addresses, three to Delta addresses, two to Pocahontas addresses and one to a Dutchtown address, Revenue Department records show.

Also returned to sender were checks to addresses in a number of surrounding communities.

Thirty-one checks with Perryville addresses, 19 with Scott City addresses, 10 with Chaffee addresses and four with Marble Hill addresses were returned to the state.

Dinolfo said the agency was pleased there weren't more returned checks.

Taxpayers who think they should have received checks can call the Tax Administration Bureau at (573) 751-3391.

The Revenue Department also has posted an alphabetical listing by last name of returned checks at www.state.mo.us/dor on the Internet.

The list is updated weekly, she said.

"I think we will be working on these for a year," she said of efforts to find all the taxpayers owed Hancock refunds.

Eventually, the state treasurer's office would be given the task of trying to find those taxpayers as part of the unclaimed property program, Dinolfo said.

The tax refunds were mailed to those persons who paid state taxes in 1995 and 1996. The refunds averaged around $100 per taxpayer.

Another $319 million is scheduled to be refunded this fall to Missouri residents who paid state taxes in 1997. Those refund checks will average about $76.