A federal check sitting in a drawer has a clock on it. Under Treasury’s own regulation, 31 CFR 240.5, the Treasury is not required to pay a check that has not been negotiated to a financial institution within 12 months after it was issued, and once that year passes the proceeds do not stay with Treasury: they go back to the agency that issued the payment. For anyone holding an old tax refund check, benefit check or settlement payment, the date that matters is the one on the check itself.

Twelve months, counted from each check’s own date

The rule sits in Part 240 of Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations, in the section titled Limited Payability and Check Cancellation. It was last amended on October 19, 2004 (69 FR 61568), so nothing about it is new; the electronic CFR page was read live on October 6, 2026. Its test is simple. If a check is not negotiated to a financial institution within 12 months after the date on which it was issued, Treasury is not required to pay it.

That is why no single calendar deadline applies. A check issued in March 2026 expires in March 2027; one issued in October 2025 is already past its window today. The regulation also says checks are supposed to carry the legend “Void After One Year,” although it adds that the presence or absence of the legend does not change Treasury’s legal rights. A payee who finds a check with a faded or missing legend is still bound by the same twelve months.

The wording matters. The regulation says Treasury is “not required” to pay; it releases the government from an obligation to honor the instrument. It does not, on its face, say the underlying money is gone forever, and that distinction explains why the practical advice runs toward the agency that originally owed the payment.

For a household with an uncashed federal check, the question is what to do now, and by when. The date to read is the issue date printed on the check, and the step is to contact the issuing agency, not to wait and hope the check still clears.

Anyone holding an expired or uncashed check from a settlement or refund can look at The Settlement & Refund Recovery System, which covers how to get an expired or uncashed settlement check reissued.

Open the guide on reissuing an expired or uncashed check →

Where a cancelled check’s money lands

The regulation provides that unpaid checks outstanding for more than 12 months are cancelled, and that the proceeds are returned to the authorizing agency for credit to the original appropriation or fund account. It adds that Treasury sends each agency a monthly list of cancelled checks. The money is not swept into a pool for the public to search.

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service says the same thing in plainer terms on its unclaimed assets FAQ, updated September 22, 2026. Undeliverable and uncashed payments are cancelled and the funds go back to the agencies, “returned to the payment certifying or authorizing agency for ultimate credit to the appropriation or fund account initially charged.” The same page states that there is no government-wide, centralized information service or database for this money.

That last point has a household consequence. A payee cannot type a name into one federal website and find every cancelled check. The trail runs through the agency whose name is on the check: the IRS for a refund, the Social Security Administration for a benefit, or whichever office certified the payment.

The people most likely to hold an aged check are not careless. Mail is forwarded late, a retiree moves, a settlement payment looks like junk, or a check arrives during a hospital stay. Twelve months passes faster than it sounds, especially for a payment nobody was expecting.

What the regulation does not answer

Section 240.5 sets the payment limit and the cancellation mechanics. It does not lay out a procedure for asking for a replacement, and it lists no exceptions to the twelve-month limit. Anyone who needs a reissue has to follow the process of the agency that issued the payment, and that process differs from one agency to the next.

Treasury’s Check Information System, TCIS, is the one federal tool the Fiscal Service points to for check questions. Its FAQ page says digital images of checks are held for seven years back to the present, and lists a toll-free line, 855-838-0743, and the address [email protected] for assistance. The page does not describe reissue steps, so it is a way to confirm what happened to a specific check, not a replacement request form.

Working through an old federal check with the agency that issued it

The free official route begins with the check itself. Note the issue date, the payer’s name and the check number, then count twelve months forward. If the window is still open, depositing it at a bank or credit union is the simplest fix. If the window has closed or the check is lost, the issuing agency is the office to ask about a replacement. The regulation text on eCFR is worth bringing along, because it shows that cancelled proceeds are credited back to that agency’s account.

For checks whose status is unclear, the Fiscal Service’s TCIS page gives contact details for assistance with Treasury checks. Keep any letters or envelopes that came with the check, since they usually name the program and the office that can reissue it. A payee who was expecting a settlement payment rather than a government benefit should also keep the settlement notice, because the administrator, not Treasury, may be the one that reissues.

The Settlement & Refund Recovery System puts how to get an expired or uncashed settlement check reissued beside a claim log and payment tracker, so each check’s issue date and next step stay in one place.

Click here to get The Settlement & Refund Recovery System →

This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the figures and dates were checked against 31 CFR 240.5 on eCFR, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service unclaimed assets FAQ and the Fiscal Service TCIS FAQ linked above.