Most North Carolina restaurant owners don't realize a new state law has changed how unclaimed property audits work—and what it could cost them.
Most North Carolina restaurant owners have never heard of unclaimed property audits. That's about to change—at least for some of them.
A provision buried in H1126, the state's 2026 technical clarifications bill, removes a longstanding prohibition on how the State Treasurer's office can pay private audit firms to investigate whether businesses owe unclaimed property. Starting when the bill became law on July 7, 2026, the state can now hire auditors on contingency: they get paid a percentage of whatever they find a business owes.
Here's what that means in plain terms.
Until July 7, 2026, state law prohibited contingency-fee contracts for unclaimed property auditors. The state could hire private firms to audit businesses, but those firms had to be paid a flat fee—not a cut of the findings. This created a neutral incentive: auditors were paid the same amount whether they found $10,000 or $100,000 owed.
H1126, Section 5.1 (pages 40-41), changed that. The blanket prohibition is gone. Now, private auditors can be paid on contingency. But there's a cap: they can't receive more than 12 percent of the final assessment.
That 12 percent matters. If an auditor's investigation concludes your restaurant owes $50,000 in unclaimed property, the audit firm gets $6,000. If the assessment is $100,000, they get $12,000. The higher the amount they find owed, the more they earn.
Unclaimed property typically includes wages, security deposits, or gift cards that customers never claimed or that were owed to employees but never collected. For restaurants with high employee turnover or long-standing gift card programs, the exposure can be real.
Under the old system, if the State Treasurer's office audited your business, the auditor had no financial stake in the outcome. Under the new system, auditors hired under contingency contracts do. They're incentivized to find amounts owed—and to find them as large as possible, since their fee is 12 percent of the total.
This doesn't mean auditors will act unethically. But it does mean the financial incentive structure has shifted. When you're being audited by someone who earns money based on what they find you owe, that's a different dynamic than a flat-fee arrangement.
If you receive notice of an unclaimed property audit, know that the auditor may be working on contingency. Ask directly whether they're being paid a flat fee or a percentage of findings. Request documentation of how the assessment was calculated. Consider having your accountant or attorney review the audit before you respond.
Keep records of wage payments, gift card sales, and customer refunds. These are your best defense against an inflated assessment, regardless of how the auditor is paid.
The provision is effective now. It applies to audits conducted under the State Treasurer's unclaimed property enforcement authority.
For a free, restaurant-specific guide to unclaimed property compliance in North Carolina, contact your local chamber of commerce or restaurant association.