New Nevada laws will impact fall unclaimed property reporting

Last year, Nevada Senate Bill 55 was enacted with an effective date of July 1, 2023. While the bill became effective last year, this year’s fall Nevada unclaimed property reports will be the first reports impacted by the new legislation.

Dormancy triggers

Among the most significant changes to Nevada’s prior unclaimed property statutes are the changes made to dormancy triggers, i.e., the date on which a company with property owed to another (holder) begins its calculation to determine whether an item of property has become unclaimed. Changes to dormancy triggers include:

Stock and equity interests

• Three years after the last indication of interest by the owner. The former standard was the date on which a piece of mail sent to the owner was returned as undeliverable, known as the returned by the post office (RPO) standard.

Automatically renewable deposit

• Three years after the maturity date following the first automatic renewal.

Life insurance or annuity contract

• Three years after date of death, maturity date or limiting age has been reached. The former standard was the date the holder had knowledge of death of the owner.

Tax-deferred or tax-exempt accounts

• Three years after the date when a distribution is required to avoid a tax penalty, which removes the RPO standard.

Pre-need funeral contracts

• Three years after the knowledge of death (former standard was date of death), or the date the beneficiary becomes 105.
• If a beneficiary’s date of birth is not known, 40 years after the contract was created, or three years after the last indication of owner interest.

Gift certificates

• In addition to an expiration date, dormancy triggers now include the date on which a gift certificate is no longer honored by issuer.

The new Nevada laws now provide that a holder’s knowledge of the death of an owner is now a dormancy trigger for multiple property types, including: