Delaware continues to focus on unclaimed property compliance, with its’ Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA) program at the forefront of this push. Since the latter part of 2018, Delaware’s Secretary of State has been consistently mailing VDA invitations and continues this practice on an on-going basis.
Based on correspondence that MarketSphere received from the office of Delaware’s Secretary of State, the latest round of VDA invitations were mailed on August 21, 2020 to a number of Delaware incorporated companies identified as “likely being out of compliance” with Delaware’s unclaimed property law.
The correspondence states:
Today, August 21, 2020, the Delaware Secretary of State’s Office will be mailing about 200 letters to various companies (individually referred to as “Holder”) that have been identified as likely being out of compliance with Delaware law, 12 Del. C. ch. 11, as it relates to reporting dormant, abandoned, or unclaimed property. Pursuant to our state laws, Delaware cannot initiate new abandoned or unclaimed property examinations (audits) unless a company has first been notified in writing by the Secretary of State that it may enter into the SOS VDA Program. The letter serves as such a notice to the Holder and strongly encourages participation in the SOS VDA Program, as an audit notice will be issued by the Delaware Department of Finance 60 days after the date of the mailing.
As the correspondence notes, if a recipient company fails to respond to the notice within 60 days, the Delaware Department of Finance will issue an unclaimed property audit notice upon the expiration of the 60-day notice period.