IRS has $153M in undelivered tax refunds

WASHINGTON » The Internal Revenue Service has $153 million in undelivered tax refund checks looking for the right homes. The agency says there are 99,123 taxpayers to whom the checks weren’t delivered because it had the wrong mailing address. The returned checks average $1,547 apiece.

It’s an annual exercise for the IRS, which has been nudging taxpayers toward accepting their refunds through direct, electronic deposits to their bank accounts. Out of the nearly 103 million refunds the IRS issued through early June this year, 76 million were direct deposits.

Of those delivered by the mail, about 0.3 percent bounced back to the IRS because of return address problems. Taxpayers hoping to claim their refund can click on the "Check on Your Refund" link at www.irs.gov, or call 1-800-829-1954.

Machinists OK tentative deal with Boeing

WASHINGTON » A contentious labor dispute between the government and Boeing Co. that spawned a national political fight likely will be settled after the company and the Machinists union announced Wednesday they’d reached a tentative deal on a new four-year collective bargaining agreement.

If the deal is finalized, it would appear to leave in place the work at a new $750 million Boeing plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state where the company opened a new production line for its 787 airplane.

The National Labor Relations Board filed a lawsuit earlier this year alleging that Boeing violated labor laws by opening the South Carolina line. Acting on a complaint from the union, the agency claimed that Boeing was punishing Washington state workers for past strikes and said the company should return the work to Washington.

Boeing has vigorously denied the charges, claiming it opened the South Carolina plant for valid economic reasons. The new agreement guarantees that a different aircraft — the 737 Max — would be assembled at union facilities in Renton, Wash., said Tom Wroblewski, president of Machinists Union District 751.

Errors found in United Air pension values

WASHINGTON » A watchdog report says the agency that insures pensions for millions of U.S. workers made serious errors in valuing pension plans for United Airlines employees and as a result some retirees may have received less than they were due.

The report issued Wednesday by an assistant inspector general of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. found "serious flaws" in the agency’s handling of pension plans for about 126,000 United employees. The agency took over the pension plans in 2005 after United filed for bankruptcy court protection in December 2002.

When the PBGC takes over plans, it pays promised benefits to retirees up to certain limits. The agency on Wednesday acknowledged its "poor work" on the United pensions and said it has taken action to correct problems and redo its valuations. The agency said in a statement it doesn’t yet know how many people were affected by the errors or by how much, but that its policy is to correct "any underpayments regardless of amount."

Contracts to buy homes hit 1-year high

WASHINGTON » The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes jumped in October to the highest level in a year. But the gain follows three months of declines and isn’t enough to signal a housing recovery.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday its index of sales agreements rose 10.4 percent last month to a reading of 93.3. A reading of 100 is considered healthy. The last time it was that high was in April 2010, one month before a federal home-buying tax credit expired.

Contract signings usually indicate where the housing market is headed. There’s typically a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed deal.

But a growing number of buyers have canceled contracts after appraisals showed the homes were worth less than the bid. A sale isn’t final until a mortgage is closed.

Indian drugmaker gets OK for generic Lipitor

TRENTON, N.J. » India’s largest maker of generic drugs won approval late Wednesday to sell a generic version of cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor. The world’s top-selling drug ever lost U.S. patent protection earlier in the day.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it granted Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. approval to sell a generic version of Pfizer Inc.’s Lipitor, called atorvastatin calcium. The last-minute decision ended widespread speculation over the outcome of a delay caused by long-standing manufacturing issues at some Ranbaxy factories.

Analysts, pharmacists and others had been watching closely to see whether Ranbaxy would be able to get its generic on the market by the time the patent expired for Lipitor. That’s because quality problems at some Ranbaxy factories, dating to 2006, had led the FDA to block shipments of many of its generic drugs to this country and to hold up approval of any new Ranbaxy drugs.

ON THE MOVE

Environet has appointed Joseph D’Aquila as its construction division senior project manager. He has more than 35 years of engineering experience, including as deputy program manager for ancillary facilities at Parsons Corp., and he oversaw the development of new support facilities in the Honolulu International Airport Terminal Modernization Program.RevoluSun has announced Marlene Hernandez as a Hawaii-based software tester engineer. She has seven years’ experience as a software tester engineer, including working as a strategic test engineer at LANDesk Software in South Jordan, Utah, as well as being responsible for program maintenance and quality assurance testing at Feature Films for Families in Murray, Utah.Big Island Carbon in Kawaihae, Hawaii island, has named Frederick S. Baker as the chief operating officer. He was previously a member of the distinguished research staff at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn.