April 17 isn't just this year's deadline to submit a federal return for 2011. It's also the last chance for people who paid income tax in 2008 and didn't file a return for that year to put in a claim for a refund.

The Internal Revenue Service said nearly 36,000 Georgians could have a refund coming to them. The potential total of those 2008 refunds is nearly $31 million.

The IRS has about $1 billion in unclaimed refunds from 2008, and about 1 million people are eligible to receive a piece of it.

The law gives taxpayers three years to submit their claim, making the deadline April 17. The money that's unclaimed goes to the U.S. Treasury.

Tags: tax refunds, tax filing, IRS, Internal Revenue Service