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Did you know you might have money sitting with Revenu Québec and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) that you never even knew was yours?
The federal and provincial governments send out millions of government payments each year — and some cheques go uncashed for years. These payments might be from tax refunds, pension plans, inheritances or benefits you’re eligible for, but for one reason or another, they were never cashed.
“Every year in Québec, millions of dollars in property and financial assets are forgotten or go unclaimed by owners and heirs,” says Revenu Québec on its website. The government agency estimates that at any given time, on average, it has around $430 million in property and assets that have gone unclaimed.
In fact, even if you currently get your government payments via direct deposit, you could still have uncashed cheques from before you enrolled — they are not automatically deposited when you first sign up for direct deposit.
The good news is that Revenu Québec cheques worth $500 or more and all CRA-issued cheques never expire, and Revenu Québec gives you 10 years to claim anything under $500 — so even if you find one from years ago, you can still cash it. But what if you never find it, or it’s too damaged to deposit? Or worse, you don’t even know it’s lost to begin with?
Luckily, both the federal and provincial governments have online portals where you can easily check if there’s money owed to you from uncashed cheques, making it simpler than ever to find out if there’s cash waiting with your name on it.
Unclaimed cheques from the CRA
First introduced in 2020, the CRA’s online tool lets you quickly see if there’s money owed to you — whether it’s from six months ago or as far back as the ’90s.
To check for uncashed cheques, all you have to do is log in to your CRA My Account and click on the “Uncashed cheques” section on the right-hand side of the main “Overview” page. If you find unclaimed funds, you can download, print, fill out and send back the pre-filled form on that page to have your cheque reissued or deposited into your bank account.
For those not registered online — or for business or trust cheques or anything less than six months old — calling the CRA is another way to explore this.
Revenu Québec’s unclaimed property register
Revenu Québec’s register of unclaimed property could also hold a surprise for you. The provincial government maintains a list of forgotten assets, including life insurance products, retirement plans, inheritances and even items like investment accounts and safety deposit boxes.
According to Revenu Québec, this register contains around 400,000 unclaimed items and returns an average of $32 million of it to owners each year.
Checking is simple — you can simply search for a name, such as your own or the name of a relative (living or deceased), in the register here. You can also log in to your Revenu Québec My Account to find anything under your own name.
If you find something under your name, you can file a claim online through My Account. However, if you’re an heir or managing someone’s estate, you’ll need to complete form BD-81.3-V instead.
Whether it’s a small windfall or a bigger surprise, it’s worth taking a few minutes to see if any of this unclaimed money is yours. If you’ve ever received government payments, benefits or tax refunds, there might be a cheque with your name on it waiting to be cashed.
After all, it’s your money — don’t let it sit around in government coffers when it could be in your pocket!
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