If you find a line item in your 'Transactions' page labelled 'Abandoned property adjustment', it means that Google has sent your account balance in your name to your state government for safekeeping (a process called escheatment). We did this because we had reason to believe that your Adsense account was abandoned.
We consider an account abandoned if there's been no activity on that account for 2-5 years (depending on your residence status). Activity on your account means:
- You signed in to your account.
- You successfully received a payment from your account.
What is escheatment?
Companies in the US are obliged to give assets that they believe are abandoned to US state governments. For US residents, it's the state government of the state in which you've told us you reside. If you reside outside the US, then it's our state of incorporation (Delaware).
What should I do?
If your balance has been escheated to the state government, you can apply to your state government unclaimed property office to have the money returned to you. You can find your unclaimed property office by typing the name of your state together with "unclaimed property" into Google Search.
How can I avoid having my account balance escheated?
To prevent your account balance from being escheated, we recommend that you regularly sign in to your Adsense account, so that we know that you're still interested in it. Or, if you have enough of an account balance, then make sure that you've met the conditions to get paid. The most common reasons for not getting a payment are:
- You haven't set up your form of payment
- You haven't submitted your tax information
- You have not reached the payment threshold.
What if I can’t log in to my AdSense account?
Google uses a single login for all Google products and services. If you have lost access to your Google account, you can review your account recovery options.
What if the above account recovery options don’t work for me?
If you’re unable to regain access to your Google account, you will need to collect the balance from the government, once your funds have been escheated. If your balance has been escheated to the state government, you can apply to your state government unclaimed property office to have the money returned to you.
To find the unclaimed property office for your state, open your browser and do a search on google.com. In the search box, enter the name of your state and the phrase 'unclaimed property'.
