How to find out if you are sitting on one of 3.9 million uncashed cheques from the government

A Canada Revenue Agency sign in Ottawa is shown on Monday, March 1, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)

With Canadians sitting on more than $2 billion in uncashed government cheques, it’s simple to find out if you’re missing money.

Those cheques include millions of tax refunds, carbon rebates, pension cheques, benefits and more payments issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and other government departments.

Finding out if the feds owe you money can be as easy as logging into your online CRA account.

Once you’ve signed in, search for and click the tab that says “uncashed cheques,” which should appear on the right side of your screen if using a computer. Here you will find a list of uncashed personal cheques like tax refunds, tax credits and benefit payments that are more than six months old.

If you’re looking for newer payments, business cheques or trust cheques, you’ll need to contact the CRA by phone. Also call the CRA by phone if you’re looking for uncashed COVID-19 benefits or subsidy payments.

Whether searching online or calling by phone, you’ll have to fill out a form and submit it online or by mail to receive your money. If you are registered for direct deposits from the CRA, funds will be sent directly to your bank account. If not, a paper cheque will be sent to you via mail.

According to data obtained by Conservative finance critic Adam Chambers, over the past four fiscal years Canadians failed to cash in roughly 3.9 million paper cheques issued by the government, totalling a whopping $2,159,665,155.

If you don’t want to miss another government payment, simply sign up for direct deposits to your bank account. You can do this online through your CRA account or by visiting your bank or financial institution. You can not sign up for direct deposits by phone.

The federal government has long preferred to pay Canadians by direct deposit. The administrative cost of issuing a government cheque is about $1.83. Only 8.51 per cent of federal payments are currently made by cheque, which costs the government millions of dollars each year.

With files from The Canadian Press