{"id":448,"date":"2026-08-25T08:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/?p=448"},"modified":"2026-08-27T14:18:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T14:18:31","slug":"cra-uncashed-cheques-c1-8-billion-waiting-to-be-claimed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/cra-uncashed-cheques-c1-8-billion-waiting-to-be-claimed\/","title":{"rendered":"CRA Uncashed Cheques: C$1.8 Billion Waiting to Be Claimed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Canada Revenue Agency is sitting on roughly C$1.8 billion in uncashed cheques, and some of that money may belong to you. According to reporting carried by MSN, more than 10.8 million CRA cheques remain unclaimed, quietly waiting for the taxpayers they were issued to.<\/p>\n<p>These CRA uncashed cheques build up over years. A refund gets mailed to an old address, a benefit payment slips through the cracks, or a cheque is simply misplaced and forgotten. The good news: that money never expires, and claiming it is free.<\/p>\n<h2>Why does the CRA have so many uncashed cheques?<\/h2>\n<p>Cheques go uncashed for ordinary reasons. People move and forget to update their mailing address. Others receive a small refund or credit and set the cheque aside, then lose track of it. Because CRA cheques do not have an expiry date, they can pile up for years without ever being deposited.<\/p>\n<p>The result is a large backlog. As reported by MSN, over 10.8 million individual payments are still outstanding, adding up to about C$1.8 billion held on behalf of Canadians who have not collected what they are owed.<\/p>\n<h2>How do I check if the CRA owes me money?<\/h2>\n<p>The fastest way to see whether you have uncashed cheques is through the CRA&#8217;s own online service. Here is the general process:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sign in to CRA My Account:<\/strong> Log in to your personal account on the Canada Revenue Agency website.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look for the uncashed cheques feature:<\/strong> The service lists any cheque the CRA issued to you that has not yet been cashed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review the amounts:<\/strong> Each outstanding payment is shown so you can confirm what is owed to you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you do not already have a CRA My Account, you can register for one on the agency&#8217;s site. Because these amounts can date back several years, it is worth checking even if you think you cash every cheque.<\/p>\n<h2>How do I claim an uncashed CRA cheque?<\/h2>\n<p>When you find an uncashed cheque in your account, you do not simply wait for a new one to arrive. Instead, you ask the CRA to reissue the payment. Within CRA My Account, you can submit a request to have the cheque re-sent or, in many cases, deposited directly into your bank account through direct deposit.<\/p>\n<p>Setting up direct deposit is also the surest way to avoid this problem in the future, since the money lands in your account automatically rather than travelling by mail.<\/p>\n<h2>Who might be owed one of these cheques?<\/h2>\n<p>Any Canadian who has ever filed a tax return or received a government benefit could have an uncashed cheque. That includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>People who have moved:<\/strong> A cheque mailed to a former address may never have reached you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Recipients of small refunds or credits:<\/strong> Modest amounts are the ones most often set aside and forgotten.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anyone entitled to benefit payments:<\/strong> Credits and benefits paid by cheque can also go uncashed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For example, if you filed a return several years ago, received a modest refund by mail, and then moved without updating your address, that cheque could still be counted among the millions the CRA is holding today.<\/p>\n<h2>Do CRA cheques expire?<\/h2>\n<p>No. Government of Canada cheques, including those from the CRA, do not have an expiry date. That means even an old cheque still holds its value, and you can request a replacement no matter how much time has passed. There is no deadline pressuring you to act, but there is also no reason to leave your own money uncollected.<\/p>\n<h2>Is there any cost to claim it?<\/h2>\n<p>There is no fee to check for or claim an uncashed CRA cheque. Be cautious of anyone who offers to recover this money for you in exchange for a cut. Since the CRA provides the service directly and for free through My Account, you never need to pay a third party to get what you are already owed.<\/p>\n<p>With about C$1.8 billion spread across more than 10.8 million payments, the odds that at least some of it belongs to real people who simply lost track are high. A few minutes signing in to your CRA account could confirm whether a share of that money is yours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CRA is holding C$1.8 billion in uncashed cheques across 10.8 million payments. Here&#8217;s how to check if you&#8217;re owed money and claim it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cra"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/article-1204.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}