Voluntary Disclosure Agreements (VDAs)

Most states offer a proactive way for holders to report past due unclaimed property liabilities or prove their history of compliance; a voluntary disclosure.

A VDA is an important tool in a company’s unclaimed property mitigation toolbox, which allows the company to more easily become unclaimed property compliant.

VDAs Provide 3 Main Benefits:

1. Allow the company to perform a self-review vs. a state or third-party auditor

2. Avoid some or all of the interest and penalties that might apply to late reported property

3. Shorter look back periods and other generally more favorable terms

Did You Receive a Notice Letter?

If you have received an invitation letter from Delaware to join their Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (“VDA”) program, MarketSphere can assist you with understanding your options for responding to the letter and implementing a course of action that best suits your organizations’ needs. More information regarding the Delaware VDA program can be found here.

We Can Help You:

Scoping to analyze the company’s entity structure, merger and acquisition history, accounting processes and transaction flows that may generate unclaimed property.
Quantification of potential liabilities to validate source information against financial records, research and resolve potential unclaimed property, perform dormancy analysis, and identify exposure on a state by state basis to determine the best course of action and need for VDA(s).
Submit to the State materials in conformity with the state voluntary program and answer questions on source documentation, methodology, or testing process performed.
Close by verifying and executing closing agreement including all in-scope entities, types of property, and years reviewed.

MarketSphere’s unclaimed property experts have supported and been an advocate for countless companies through the VDA process, ranging from the Mid-Market to the Fortune 50.

You don’t have to wait for an audit notice letter or VDA invitation to show up in your mailbox.

We can provide a risk assessment, analysis of exposure, and recommendations for next steps so you better understand your options to minimize risk and come into unclaimed property compliance.

Are you overcomplying? Undercomplying?

Are you reporting and escheating too many dollars? Or are you reporting too little and risking huge penalties? Take two minutes to take the JustRight Compliance® quiz to find out!

MarketSphere clearly has a high-level of expertise in Unclaimed Property issues. You dealt directly with our various third-party agents and helped us reduce unnecessary involvement from our employees.

Deputy Group Company Secretary, Global Communications Leader