As the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) looks for ways to slash federal spending, the head of DOGE has tens of thousands of dollars due to his companies right now.
Before you write that off as insignificant for a company like Tesla, with revenue topping $97 billion in 2024, the money we found wasn’t trivial. It could cover entire salaries.
KTLA 5 News has identified upwards of $100,000 in unclaimed property records for Tesla in California and Texas. This money is just sitting there, unclaimed.
But that’s just Tesla. You might be surprised to hear that the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (yes, there is such a thing) estimates that state treasurers are holding over $70 billion in unclaimed property.
Of those billions, a significant portion belongs to the government itself. Yes, as DOGE looks for efficiencies, it may need to start with the government’s own money sitting unclaimed in many states, held by the government.
Homeland Security, the United States Postal Service, Medicare, the Armed Forces, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the National Park Service, and the Veterans Administration all have money waiting.
Customs and Border Protection hit the jackpot: we found one sum of $143,140 from Wells Fargo sitting in the California Unclaimed Property fund, owed to Customs and Border Protection. There are many other amounts in the thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars owed to CBP. It’s their own money, just sitting there.
We found money owed to the IRS—yes, they have a refund coming. Twenty pages of listings just in California include jackpot amounts of $28,000, $75,000, and $80,000. In fact, KTLA identified more than $700,000 in unclaimed money for the IRS just in California. The number may be much higher, as we only accounted for amounts over $1,000. The unclaimed money owed to the IRS comes from pretty much every large bank, corporation, and more. Free money, available to be put to use—if only the IRS would claim it.
The US Treasury has its own set of listings (separate from the IRS)—twenty-plus pages worth, with amounts like $75,755, $29,998, $19,000, $16,000, and $12,000—and that’s just in California.
The Department of Veterans Affairs—so much has been made about our veterans and that agency. Pages of listings just in California show unclaimed money in amounts like $46,000.
The Social Security Administration has twenty-plus pages of listings. The amounts are smaller, but many are still in the thousands of dollars.
Remember, this is unclaimed money. It’s just waiting for the right government agency to come and claim it.
School districts and state agencies are listed, too. Yes, we found that the California State Controller, which runs the unclaimed property site in California, actually holds unclaimed money—amounts including $14,000 and $11,000.
DOGE estimates it may have saved $55 billion already by canceling or renegotiating leases and contracts, selling assets, and finding savings. Some estimates show far less.
Whatever that amount is, there’s another $70 billion in unclaimed property funds belonging to people all over the country, much of it caught in this crazy cycle of unclaimed money belonging to the government — actually being held by the government.
So why does it sit unclaimed? Well, it could be that many large agencies aren’t even aware the money is there.
We spoke with the IRS and Customs and Border Protection. Both were looking into the issue. Neither was aware of the large sums we told them about. However, the CBP told KTLA, “These types of unclaimed property cases are not unusual due to the large amounts of transactions involving the collection of fees, taxes, and duties from importers every day. In 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collected over $92.3 billion.”
When it comes to people like you and me, collecting unclaimed funds can be cumbersome and confusing.
This author recently found I had $100 in unclaimed money—nothing huge, but not tiny either. I sent photos of my driver’s license, proof of my social security number, and all the requested information. The state responded with an acknowledgment of receiving my info, with an added note that it then had another six months to return my unclaimed money if it found I had satisfied all the requirements.
And that’s the easy process. Next-of-kin funds can sometimes require death certificates and notaries and a whole process in some states. If the amount isn’t large enough, it may just be easier to leave the money unclaimed.
With all this talk about efficiency, a state-by-state look at unclaimed property and what belongs to the US government may yield unexpected funds.
If you think you may be owed money or have unclaimed property, check the states where you currently live or lived in the past and follow the process to claim your money. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators has a link and interactive map to each state’s site here.
