The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department announced paper refund checks for individual taxpayers will be phased out beginning Sept. 30, 2025, per the executive order from President Trump signed in March.
The IRS will publish detailed guidance for 2025 tax returns before the 2026 filing season, and stated taxpayers should continue using existing forms and procedures, particularly in filing 2024 returns on extension of a due date prior to Dec. 31, 2025.
The phase out, the first in a series of steps the IRS plans to more widely transition to electronic payments, was designed to accomplish a list of tasks outlined by the service:
Protect taxpayers, as paper checks are over 16 times more likely to be lost, stolen, altered, or delayed than electronic payments, the IRS stated.Speed up refunds, as electronic filing results in payments issued in less than 21 days compared to nonelectronic payments taking six weeks or longer for refunds sent by mail.Cut costs based on the efficiency and lower spend of electronic versus paper payments.
Filing will stay the same for taxpayers, the IRS noted, explaining that digital refunds will be delivered by direct deposit or other secure electronic methods, and that those without access to bank accounts have options such as prepaid debit cards, digital wallets, or that limited exceptions will be available.
In the meantime, the IRS advised taxpayers to know their banking information or consider opening an account.
Most taxpayers receive their refunds by direct deposit — during the 2025 tax filing season, the IRS issued more than 93.5 million tax refunds to individual income tax filers, and 93% of those, almost 87 million refunds, were issued through direct deposit. Only 7% of individual refund recipients received their refunds by check through the mail.
