How to find lost money (and more) in your CRA My Account
Did you know that CRA might owe you some cash, right now?
Not only that, but they may have been holding it for years, while you have been none the wiser? It’s true.
It’s not often in life that we find some lost money. Even rarer is finding out that Canada Revenue Agency owes us cash that we didn’t know about. But, for many Canadians, that is precisely the situation. You see, the average person moves from one residential address to another, at least a few times during their lifetime. Often, despite their best efforts, their new address may not be accurately (or immediately) updated with all of their personal and business accounts. In such cases, it is easy for mail to never reach the intended recipient. Other times, mail can simply go missing, whether it is lost, or perhaps even stolen.
Now, if that mail was a payment sent by CRA, the government agency will keep a record of the uncashed cheque. You just may not know about it. Earlier this year, CRA soft-launched a feature to allow taxpayers to easily find out if they are entitled to any such payments. The key is to log in to CRA My Account and navigate to the right spot.
Here’s how to do it:
Head over to CRA’s My Account for Individuals:
Log in with your username and password (or, if you don’t yet have a CRA My Account login, register to create one).
Under “Related Services”, look for the menu item labelled “Uncashed cheques”. Click it and cross your fingers.
Voila! If CRA is holding any uncashed cheques for you, they will appear in a table, showing the amount, along with instructions for how to get it sent to you.
Bonus tip: To make sure you don’t miss out on any future such payments, sign up for direct deposit. That way, CRA will just go ahead and deposit the amounts directly into your bank account.
So, did your author find any long-lost treasure in his CRA My Account? Indeed, I did! I had an uncashed cheque for about $50 from 1998! Likely due to moving my residence that year. Okay, not enough to retire on, but still a nice surprise and worth the two minutes it took to check!
What else is in CRA My Account?
Other than playing the lost cheque lottery, CRA My Account is a useful site for all Canadian taxpayers. I urge you to become familiar with its features. Most importantly, it will tell you the status of your account, including balances and any payments due or owed. Also, you can quickly find your RRSP deduction limit and TFSA contribution room. If you are keen on preparing your own tax return, you’ll also find most (if not all) of your tax information slips, for each tax year.
By the way, if you find the information in CRA My Account a little bit daunting at tax time, let us be your tax preparation partner. We’ll organize all of the important data from CRA on your behalf, and use it to prepare and file your tax return. For a fixed price and with no upfront fee.
