Poli SAVVY: A click away from your unclaimed CRA money

I do believe one of the pleasures in life is unexpectedly finding money in an old jacket.

You know the feeling when you find––hidden inside a clump of lint accumulated in a pocket––a simple $5, which then turns into a wealth of opportunities: a coffee, a massage, a trip to Portugal! Oh! The sweet dreams one gets from money buzz.

Well, ka-ching, ka-ching, a little-known section on the Canada Revenue Agency website might just be holding onto your golden ticket this time.

A new feature on the CRA website, launched quite discreetly, is currently allowing Canadians to verify and collect any missed payments. It’s not only taking uncashed payments over the last or five years into account, but from literally any year you have filed taxes for.

On Thursday, euphoric individuals started to tweet the amounts of unclaimed money they discovered on their CRA profiles. Sound like a scam? These pleasant discoveries came after a Reddit post regarding uncashed cheques by user hdrons gained attention, as reported by CBC News. Tales range from $46, dating back to the year 1999, to $1,000.

Wait, what!?

The government issues millions of cheques each year––for refunds and benefits––and they simply never expire. According to a statement by CRA spokesperson Etienne Biram, if a person changes address or misplaced a payment, then the money just sits in the digital void. So how come this seemingly simple feature was only recently launched… And not even advertised?

The total sum of unclaimed money is yet to be revealed, and I know you just simply cannot wait to find out if you’ve hit the jackpot—so I will skip the critique for now.

Simply go to your CRA online profile, scroll down to the “related services section” where you’ll find “Uncashed cheques,” and there you go! Are you rich yet?

I’m not.

 

Graphic by Victoria Blair

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