There's a decent chance the government is holding money with your name on it, and you'd never know unless you went looking.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is currently sitting on more than 10.8 million uncashed cheques, according to its own figures. Together they add up to over $1.8 billion in payments that were issued but never cashed. That averages out to roughly $173 a cheque, though the real range is wide, since it lumps together small credit payments and much larger refunds.
It's easier than you'd think for one of these to slip through the cracks. A cheque might have gone to an old address, gotten buried in a stack of mail and tossed by accident, or ended up in a drawer that hasn't been opened in years.
Why the pile keeps growing
The CRA issues millions of payments a year for things like tax refunds, GST/HST credits, Canada Child Benefit payments and a range of provincial benefits. If you're set up for direct deposit, that money lands in your account automatically. If you're not, it goes out as a paper cheque, and paper cheques are a lot easier to lose track of.
Here's the part that catches people off guard. Even if you're on direct deposit now, the CRA could still be holding older cheques that were issued before you signed up. Those don't get automatically converted, so they just sit there.
The upside is that Government of Canada cheques never expire. Whether a payment was issued last year or a decade ago, you can still claim it.
How to check what you're owed
The quickest way to find out is through your CRA My Account. Once you're logged in, look for "Uncashed cheques" on the Overview page or under "Accounts and payments." The online tool covers personal payments more than six months old, including tax refunds, benefit payments and credits.
If the CRA is holding anything for you, it'll be listed there, and you can download a pre-filled form to request a replacement, either by direct deposit or as a new cheque in the mail.
If you don't have a My Account set up, or you're chasing down business or trust cheques, you'll need to call the CRA directly. An agent can confirm whether you have any uncashed payments and mail you the form to claim them.
Once the form is filled out and signed by hand (the CRA doesn't accept electronic or stamped signatures), you can upload it through your online account or mail it to the Sudbury tax centre. If you go the mail route for your replacement, expect up to 10 extra business days to receive a cheque on top of the processing time.
One thing to keep in mind: if you owe the CRA money, it may put part or all of your payment toward that debt before sending you whatever's left.
Worth a look
Logging in takes a few minutes and there's no real downside. If you've collected any CRA payments over the years, even a long time ago, it's worth checking whether some of that $1.8 billion is quietly waiting for you.
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