The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) says it is sitting on $1.4 billion of uncashed cheques,
some of which date back to 1998.
The federal agency that is responsible for collecting taxes says more than 75,000 Canadians
have received cheques from its offices that they have not yet cashed.
As a result, the CRA is sending out thousands of electronic notifications this month reminding
people of the payments they’ve received and providing instructions on how to get the money
they are owed.
Each year, the CRA issues millions of dollars worth of payments to Canadians in the form of tax
refunds and federal benefits, but some cheques remain uncashed.
Reasons cheques are not cashed include address changes, misplacement, and problems with
mail delivery.
CRA says it plans to send e-notifications to 25,000 Canadians this month, followed by another
25,000 Canadians in November, and a further 25,000 people in May 2023.
The CRA began a campaign in 2020 to get Canadians to cash their federal government
cheques and says it has returned more than $800 million to taxpayers over the past two years.
However, the CRA says it still has $1.4 billion worth of uncashed cheques sitting in its coffers.
People can check to see if they have money owing to them by logging into their online CRA
account or phoning the federal tax collector.
