How to see if you have one of the 8.9 million uncashed CRA cheques

Looking for some extra cash this summer? You may need to look no further than the Canada Revenue Agency ’s website.

On Monday, the government revealed it has approximately $1.4-billion worth of cheques that have gone uncashed over the years. As of May 2022, there were an estimated 8.9 million uncashed cheques with the CRA.

You may wonder how is this possible? And what can I do to get my money?

Each year, the CRA issues millions of payments in the form of tax refunds and various government benefits. Most of these payments are issued via direct deposit, but some are still issued by cheque. Over time, some of these cheques remain uncashed for a variety of reasons, such as the taxpayer misplacing them or, perhaps, the cheque was never delivered to its recipient due to a change of address.

Beginning this month, the CRA will start notifying, via e-mail, some recipients of the Canada child benefit and its related provincial/territorial programs, GST/HST credit and Alberta Energy Tax Refund recipients of any uncashed cheques they may have.

The average amount per uncashed cheque is $158. Approximately 25,000 enotifications will be issued in August and another 25,000 in November, followed by another 25,000 in May 2023.

Since the CRA first launched this initiative back in 2020, it said approximately two million uncashed cheques, valued at a total of $802 million, were cashed by Canadians between Feb. 10, 2020, and May 31, 2022. Postmedia News