CRA accumulates $500,000 a day in uncashed cheques

OTTAWA— Every day, half a million dollars in uncashed cheques are being added to Canada Revenue Agency’s pile of nearly eightmillion cheques waiting to be claimed by their owner.

Approximately five million Canadians (and counting) have failed to claim one ormore uncashed cheques fromthe Canada Revenue Agency.

“Each year, the Canada Revenue Agency issues millions of payments in the formof refunds and benefits. These payments are issued by either direct deposit or by cheque. Over time, payments can remain uncashed for various reasons, such as the taxpayer misplacing the cheque or even a change of address which did not allow for delivery. This is money that belongs to Canadians,” CRA spokeswoman Sylvie Branch said in an email.

Lastmarch, Postmedia first reported that the CRA was sitting onmore than $1 billion in uncashed CRA cheques issued over the past 20 years. Nearly one year later — and despite hundreds of thousands of cheques being claimed— that amount has jumped to $1.2 billion.

Now thecrais once again asking Canadians to claimtheirmoney by using the simple “Uncashed Cheques” feature launched on its website last February.