This month, Delaware enacted significant amendments to its escheat laws that significantly change the rights of Delaware businesses. Every Delaware business needs to understand these changes in order to preserve its assets in the event of an audit.

Delaware, the preferred state of incorporation, is the most aggressive state in auditing and assessing millions of dollars in liability for property that Delaware contends was abandoned by the proper owners. Almost one-third of Delaware’s budget is funded by amounts collected in unclaimed property audits. Those audits are conducted by private auditors who estimate liabilities for periods as far back as 1981, and whose compensation is contingent on the amount of liability that companies pay to Delaware as a result of such audits. A Delaware corporation need not transact any business in Delaware to be assessed liability for unclaimed property. Further, every state has abandoned property laws, and because state revenue is down, every state is increasing enforcement efforts, most notably, Delaware.

Lawyers from Reed Smith’s Global Regulatory & Enforcement and State Tax teams in Chicago and Philadelphia will explain what unclaimed property is and how it can mushroom into a substantial and unexpected liability, and how to work the audit and assessment process—before and after the new legislation—to your best advantage.

This one-hour teleseminar, during which there will be an opportunity to ask questions, is aimed at U.S. corporations with U.S. employees, vendors and customers. It is one of a series of teleseminars in the Unclaimed Property and Escheat Series that will be hosted by Reed Smith on the hidden dangers of the unclaimed property and escheat laws throughout the United States.

Click here to view the invitation.