Unidentified Remittance and Excess Collections Files

When there is insufficient information to properly apply credits to a taxpayer’s account (e.g., when a taxpayer does not claim a payment and the correct taxpayer cannot be located), funds may be transferred to the Unidentified Remittance File (URF - 4260 Account) or the Excess Collections File (XSF - 6800 Account). If a return is later filed claiming those payments, it may be necessary to request a transfer to move the payments from URF or XSF to the Master File. Refer to IRM 3.17.220, Excess Collections File, for further guidance. If the credit is an FTD/EFTPS payment, the last five digits will reflect the FTD/EFTPS number into 9 through 13 digits of the original DLN. This will create a unique control number which reflects the credit’s origin.

When a credit or payment is moved to the Excess Collection File (XSF) or the Unidentified Remittance File (URF), a Transaction Code (TC) 971, Action Code (AC) 296 must be input on the module, please refer to IRM 21.2.4.3.10.1, Excess Collections File (XSF) and Unidentified Remittance File (URF) for AMRH. This is the final audit trail that indicates that all available research sources have been used. This requirement was part of the Excess Collection Task Group and was started in 1/2007. This applies to Excess Collection only.