Compliance reference
Gift card laws by state: expiration, fees and escheatment
Gift cards are regulated at both federal and state level. Federal law sets a floor for expiration and fees; each state can go further, and many require unredeemed balances to be remitted as unclaimed property after a dormancy period. This table is the merchant-facing summary, state by state.
The federal CARD Act baseline
The federal CARD Act of 2009 requires that funds remain valid for at least five years from the date of purchase or last load, limits inactivity fees to cards unused for at least twelve months, and requires that any fees and expiration terms be clearly disclosed on the card or packaging. State law sets the floor higher in many places, and adds escheatment — the requirement to remit unclaimed balances to the state as unclaimed property.
Not legal or accounting advice
This page is a plain-language summary for merchants, not legal or accounting advice. Statutes change, and the rules that apply to you depend on where your customers live, where you are incorporated and how your program is structured. Confirm your obligations with counsel or your accountant in every state where you sell cards before acting on anything here.
All 50 states
5 states have verified detail pages so far. The rest are listed with their fields marked for verification — we publish a statute citation, dormancy period or percentage only after it has been checked against the primary source and dated.
| Alabama | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Arizona | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Arkansas | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| California | No | Not applicable — California does not treat gift certificates as reportable unclaimed property. | Read |
| Colorado | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Connecticut | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Delaware | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Florida | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Georgia | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Hawaii | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Idaho | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Illinois | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Indiana | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Iowa | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Kansas | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Kentucky | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Louisiana | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Maine | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Maryland | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Massachusetts | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Michigan | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Minnesota | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Mississippi | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Missouri | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Montana | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Nebraska | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Nevada | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| New Hampshire | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| New Jersey | Yes | Stored value cards are presumed abandoned after a period of inactivity under N.J.S.A. 46:30B-42.1. [TODO: verify] — confirm the current period against the live statute text. | Read |
| New Mexico | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| New York | Yes | Unredeemed gift card balances are covered by the Abandoned Property Law (N.Y. Aban. Prop. Law § 1315). [TODO: verify] — confirm the current dormancy period. | Read |
| North Carolina | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| North Dakota | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Ohio | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Oklahoma | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Oregon | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Pennsylvania | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] — confirm the dormancy period, if any, for gift certificates and gift cards under the Disposition of Abandoned and Unclaimed Property Act. | Read |
| Rhode Island | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| South Carolina | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| South Dakota | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Tennessee | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Texas | Yes | Stored value cards are addressed by Tex. Prop. Code § 72.1016. [TODO: verify] — confirm the current dormancy period and how it is measured for cards with and without an expiration date. | Read |
| Utah | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Vermont | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Virginia | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Washington | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| West Virginia | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Wisconsin | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |
| Wyoming | [TODO: verify] | [TODO: verify] | In research |