Quebec and Canada may have your uncashed cheques, here’s how to get them

The Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Quebec have millions of dollars worth of taxpayers cash and property in the form of unclaimed cheques and assets. (Adrian Wyld, Christinne Muschi / The Canadian Press)

Those looking at their budgets and balances heading into a new year might also want to check if the federal or provincial government owes you or a deceased loved one any cheques, property or valuables in a safety deposit box.

Money may be sitting in Revenue Quebec or Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) coffers and it’s simple to find.

Unclaimed property registry

Revenu Quebec has an easy to access “unclaimed property registry” portal on its webesite, and the CRA has an “uncashed cheques” section in users’ online file.

In Quebec, you may have life insurance products, pension plan amounts, investments or other assets that are unclaimed in the property registry.

“Revenu Québec pays an average of $32 million per year to owners of unclaimed property,” the government site reads. “From one year to the next, the registry contains approximately 400,000 unclaimed properties with a total value of approximately $430 million.”

Assets worth less than $500 in Quebec can be claimed for a decade and anything worth more than $500 can be claimed indefinitely.

Revenu Quebec says assets are often forgotten when moving, changing jobs or when a loved one dies.

It adds, that heirs to property or the liquidator of an estate cannot use the online claim service.

Uncashed cheques

Users that login to the CRA’s “your online file” section can also find if they have uncashed cheques.

The CRA can resend any cheques that went to an old address, and users can also sign up for direct deposit to avoid the hassle of finding a bank machine that accepts deposits and is open outside of banking hours.

Cheques from the CRA can be refunds, benefits and credits and they never expire because they are sent from the government. The agency cannot cancel an original cheque without the taxpayer’s request.

Up to May 2019, the CRA estimates that about five million Canadians have nearly 7.6 million uncashed cheques sitting in limbo.

With files from Noovo Info.