Article
California Voluntary Compliance Program outreach initiative
Nov. 13, 2025 · Authored by Matthew Chenowth, Cathleen Bucholtz
The California State Controller’s Office Unclaimed Property Division (SCO) will soon initiate a new holder outreach campaign to highlight the SCO’s Voluntary Compliance Program (VCP). The outreach will start with correspondence being sent out in mid-to-late November 2025 and will be mailed initially to the largest potential holders.
The expectation for the campaign is to bring awareness of the VCP program and the opportunity it provides participants to report past due property without having to pay a large interest assessment. Given that California has a statutory interest assessment of 12% per annum, in some cases, the interest assessment could be larger than the actual amount of unclaimed property being reported. The interest waiver can be a valuable holder incentive to initiate first-time reporting, get caught up or become fully compliant with a holder’s reporting obligations. The first batch of outreach letters will be going out to an estimated 4,000 holders, with follow-up outreach planned as necessary. Future mailings will also be sent to additional groups of holders throughout 2026.
Companies may participate at any time in the VCP whether or not a letter is received. However, companies interested in participating in the VCP must meet certain eligibility requirements, including the following:
- Company is not currently the subject of an unclaimed property examination
- Company is not currently subject to civil or criminal investigation
- Company does not currently have unpaid interest assessments from the past five years
According to the SCO, companies that are accepted into the VCP will receive work plans and a timeline that confirms the date the company was accepted into the program, when due diligence should be completed and the dates when the Notice Report and Remit Report are due.
To learn more about the California VCP, or for any other unclaimed property questions, reach out to a member of the Baker Tilly unclaimed property team for guidance and assistance.
