HBL CPAs is a full-service Certified Public Accounting firm based in Tucson, Arizona. HBL has been providing tax services, accounting services, auditing and attestation services, consulting services, and various other services since 1973. Businesses have so many checks flowing through them that depositing a check after this date may cause it to bounce.

The UCC tells banks that they are under no obligation to accept personal or business checks that are older than 180 days . So, generally speaking, personal and business checks are good for 6 months; however, some banks will accept older checks. It’s also critical that all employees, especially accounting personnel, know that unclaimed property doesn’t belong Stale dated checks to the company. Since you owe that money to either the state or the property owner, uncashed checks should never be voided. Instead, they should be monitored, and the owner should be contacted periodically. A stale check is an undeposited or uncashed check that may be too old to be processed by a bank, credit union, or other financial institution.

Do these rules apply to business accounts?

Generally, a “stale check” (also called a “stale-dated check”) is an uncashed check that is more than six months old. If you have property that falls into any of the above categories, you may need to report it to the State of Arizona. Visit the unclaimed property website and click on the “Holders” tab to report the property for further instruction.

Typically accounts are frozen if checks have been stolen or there is other possible fraudulent activity, but you can request to have your account frozen. Specifically, a customer or any person authorized to draw on the account can request their bank to flag the account to stop the payment of the outstanding check. A stop-payment order is designed to stop the check from being processed and prevent the withdrawal of funds from the account. A post-dated cheque is a cheque that can’t get deposited before the specified date.

Public Policy

As a result, even if it is given to the bank, it will not be processed until the date specified. A cheque is currently deemed good for three months from the date of issue. After that time, they become “stale-dated” (no longer negotiable) and move from the payroll bank account to the State of California-mandated escheat account. If you need a stale-dated check reissued, contact your department’s payroll coordinator. The IRS needs to reissue the check if it has been sitting around for longer than a year. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners.

Instead, you will need to ask that the issuer of the check provides you with a new check for the purpose of the payment. Be considerate — call or text the payer to let them know your intent. Make sure to also double-check that they haven’t switched financial institutions or opened a new account.

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If you wish to cash a stale check at the issuing bank, then you will need to get approval from that bank before presenting the stale check. Some business checks will have “Valid For 90 Days” noted on the check. The issuing bank may not honor a business check if it is presented after the 90 day period. Taken together, these attributes clearly establish RCH’s Uncashed Distribution Checks Service as the most fiduciary-friendly stale-dated distribution check service in the industry. Sometimes you might need to sign a cheque over to allow someone else to deposit it. These can get cashed by someone other than the named person on the front of the cheque.

This process highlights checks that haven’t been presented to the bank for payment or uncleared checks. If a check is notated as stale dated it may or may not have been cashed or re-issued. Contact Procurement Services at  to verify whether the check cleared the bank, was cancelled, was reissued or is still unclaimed. This instruction sets forth the policies and procedures for voiding stale dated checks over one year old. “Void” cannot be used in most computer software programs because it has the effect of zeroing the check on the date written which changes all the prior month reports.

Why Does RCH Have My Retirement Funds?

RCH Shareholder Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of Retirement Clearinghouse, LLC and a registered transfer agent with the U.S. Taken together, these attributes clearly establish RCH’s Uncashed Distribution Checks Service as the most fiduciary-friendly stale-dated distribution check service in the industry. A check from a state government is generally valid for six months to a year, though that can vary by state. As a business owner, you should take time to clearly outline how your company is going to handle stale checks. If you’re receiving a check, your company policy should be to deposit it within one month to ensure you do not lose it. So let’s say that as a business owner, you wrote a check to a vendor.

If for some reason your bank deposits a post-dated cheque too early, you will need to resolve the situation with them. You can ask if they can put the money back into your account and the request needs to be made before the cheque’s due date. In order for stop payments to work, you’re going to have to give your bank enough time to process them. As well, it’s worth noting that if a stop payment doesn’t work for some reason, you’re still responsible for the total amount of the cheque. While cheques aren’t as common today as they once were, it’s still worth knowing some of the different types.

What Can I Do if My Bank Honored a Stale Check without My Permission?

This letter must be sent between May and August with a response due date on or before September 30th to enable us to meet the October 31st reporting deadline to the State. The letter should provide several ways for the recipient to respond to the inquiry, by letter, email or FAX. When a check becomes stale, it is no longer honored by your banking institution.

If you are the payee, and the check has been lost, stolen, or destroyed you may request a reissue by completing a reissue package. When the check is reissued, the employee will receive an email indicating it is available for pickup. The re-issuance of a stale-dated check will have no effect on the individual employee’s record or your account, even if it is for a prior fiscal or calendar year. Banks don’t have to accept checks that are more than 6 months (180 days) old. That’s according to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), a set of laws governing commercial exchanges, including checks.

Difference between Stale Cheque and Post Dated Cheque in Tabular Form

The cheque writer may argue that they fulfilled their obligation by providing you with a valid original cheque and that you are too responsible for the stale cheque. ORF and general cash checks have a one-year period of negotiability. Unless specific provisions of law require cancellation in a different period of time, trust fund checks also have a one-year period of negotiability. If you are in possession of an original check more than 30 months past it’s issue date and you are the payee, please contact our offices to obtain a reissue of the check.

At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict
editorial integrity,
this post may contain references to products from our partners. The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. The policy should more clearly outline what you are going to do if a recipient does not cash a check that you’ve issued. Without this information, it becomes much more challenging for your bank to process a stop payment.

Understanding how they work can let you avoid paying extra fees and will only benefit your accounting processes. Not only can cheques be easy to lose, but one small error here or there can increase the chances of a cheque become stale-dated. You might have to issue a new cheque if that happens which can increase the time it takes for the receiver to deposit it. The original entry was recorded under “Disbursements.” Record the uncashed check in the disbursement column again and place parentheses around the amount.

• If you receive a check that is more than 180 days old, depending on the circumstances, a bank may refuse to honor the check and will not allow you to deposit or cash the check.
• In fact, GlobalBanks IQ even helps non-resident, foreign & offshore entities open bank accounts.
• The Controller’s Office staff may reissue a check upon satisfactory proof of nonpayment or because a check has been lost or destroyed.
• The exact due diligence requirements vary by state, but the National Association of Unclaimed Property recommends a formal letter to the check recipient sent by first-class mail.
• Plus, the person who wrote the bounced check might be charged a non-sufficient funds fee of up to $35.

You might have non-sufficient funds in your bank account or the signature might be incorrect. Most would simply consider voiding the check and making the funds available for use. Stale and post-dated cheques are two of the most misunderstood types of cheques that can be issued and drawn. They are frequently confused with one another since they have a fixed date printed on them. Stale cheques are those that have been issued to the bank after the payment date has passed. Post-dated cheques, on the other hand, are dated in such a way that they can only be cashed in the future.