CLEARWATER Fla. — The IRS is sitting on an estimated $58 million in unclaimed tax refunds from the year 2020 that are owed to Floridians.

The IRS confirms that nationwide there’s more than $1 billion in unclaimed refunds from 2020.

The money that’s been left on the table is likely from people who worked part-time or lost their job during the pandemic and didn’t hit the income threshold to trigger the filing requirement.

In Florida, the IRS estimates $58,210,500 is owed to 53,200 residents with a potential median refund of $891.

Taxpayers have until May 17 to file and claim their 2020 tax return refunds. While the deadline for claiming past years is usually April 15, to align with the current year’s filing date, the pandemic pushed the 2020 deadline to May 17.

Whatever money is left unclaimed will go back to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Luke Richardson, Associate Professor at the USF Lynn Pippenger School of Accountancy, says 2020 was an odd year for many due to pandemic-related layoffs and job changes. If you worked a conventional job even part time in 2020, Richardson says taxes were taken from your paycheck that you are entitled to.

"Your employer doesn’t know you’re not going to have enough income to have to file a tax return," he explained. "So those taxes are withheld and remitted to the government on your behalf."

Richardson recommends to start the process you reach out to your employer from 2020 and ask for the appropriate tax documents. If that’s not possible, the IRS can help.

“You can go through the IRS and get a wage and income transcript,” he said. “So you can request that to see what the IRS sees on their end, because when you get a copy of your W-2 it’s just that, you get a copy and the IRS gets a copy, so you can see what they show for you having income.”

While you can prepare the 2020 return online, it must be mailed and postmarked by May 17.