Tax Tip Thursday
MyCRA Account
Have you cashed every cheque the CRA has ever sent you? I wouldn’t be surprised if you said no, because a recent announcement from the government says that they have approximately $1.4 BILLION in uncashed cheques somewhere out there.
How can this be?
And how can you figure out if any of that money is for you? Well, every year the CRA issues millions of payments in the form of tax refunds and various government benefits. Most of these payments are issued via direct deposit, but some are still issued by cheque. Some of these cheques remain uncashed for a variety of reasons — maybe the recipient moved or misplaced the cheque. Beginning this month, the CRA will start notifying, via e-mail, some recipients of the Canada child benefit and its related provincial/territorial programs and GST/HST credits. Approximately 25,000 e-notifications will be issued in each of August and November, 2022, and then again in May 2023.
The plan works, watch your email!
Since the CRA first launched this initiative back in 2020, approximately $802 million worth of cheques were cashed by Canadians. I can even say I was a recipient of about $500 worth of cheques going back almost 15 years!
So if you need ANOTHER reason to get a MyCRA account – here you go…. That is how you can find your money! Once you have an account and get logged in, at the bottom right hand side of the page, you will find an uncashed cheques link. As government cheques never expire or become stale dated, the CRA cannot void the original cheque or reissue a new one unless you request it. So if you have one stashed in a drawer, you can still cash it!
Of course, to ensure you never miss another payment from the CRA, it’s best to sign up for direct deposit so that your government tax refunds and benefit payments are directly deposited into your bank account. This can also be done through your MyCRA account. If you don’t have a MyCRA account you can also call 1-800-959-8281. But I can assure you, that is not a lot of fun.
And if that was not incentive enough for the MyCRA account, there are a whole host of other things you can do in your account:
- See/download your Tax information slips (T4 and more)
- Change your address and phone number(s)
- Arrange for direct deposit
- Authorize representative(s) which could be your accountant, but could also be a spouse, parent, child, etc…
- Register a formal dispute
- Request a remittance voucher
Need help?
We’ll be glad to guide you through the process of getting a MyCRA account and finding out if you’re owed any part of that $1.4 billion dollars. You never know!
Disclaimer:
This article provides information of a general nature only. It is only current at the posting date. It is not updated and it may no longer be current. It does not provide legal or tax advice nor can it or should it be relied upon. All tax situations are specific to each individual. If you have specific tax questions you should book an appointment for a 1 on 1 consultation.