It is that time of the year for New Brunswick businesses and organizations to report any unclaimed funds they are holding on to.

The annual reporting period, which runs until March 31, is a requirement under New Brunswick’s Unclaimed Property Program.

“In this program, unclaimed property is financial property,” said Marissa Sollows, director of communications and public affairs with the Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB), which administers the program.

“It would be things like overpayments or refunds, security deposits perhaps that were left beyond, an account payable on a life insurance policy, or forgotten funds in a provincially regulated credit union.”

Holders of unclaimed monetary property – like businesses, associations and government organizations – are required to review their books for unclaimed property and attempt to locate owners to return the money or re-establish an active relationship with them.

Money and monetary property are generally considered to be unclaimed when there has been no activity on the property for at least three years, or 10 years for credit union accounts.

If the apparent owner does not respond to contact from the business, the property must be reported to the Unclaimed Property Program.

Any kind of business or entity could be holding unclaimed property, said Sollows, adding it is important that business owners understand what is required of them with respect to unclaimed property reporting.

“To date, we’ve had 194 unique holders report more than $30 million to the Unclaimed Property Program,” she said, noting they anticipate more holders to report this year with increased awareness of the program.

New Brunswickers can search for unclaimed property for free through FundsFinderNB.ca. So far, the commission has reunited people with just over $550,000.

Business owners are encouraged to visit the website to learn more about what their obligations are and how to report unclaimed property.