The Canada Revenue Agency is sitting on a windfall of more than $1 billion in cheques left uncashed by taxpayers over 20 years.

The agency says if you are one of the five million Canadians who didn’t cash their cheque from CRA between 1998 and 2018 then your money is still waiting for you.

According to information posted around the internet, those cheques amount to $1 billion of taxpayer’s unclaimed money. That’s an average of $200 for each of the five million affected Canadians.

The feature has always existed, but it was mostly unknown and filing a claim was more complicated, explained Jeremy Bellefeuille, spokesperson for the minister of National Revenue.

So for the launch of the 2020 tax season on February 24, the department created an online verification tool that every taxpayer can access via CRA’s website. Once logged in to the agency’s “My Account” service, click on the “Uncashed cheques” link at the bottom of the “Related services” column on the “Overview” page.

Any unpaid amounts older than six months will be listed on that page, as well as the necessary forms to claim your money.