Jan
In March of 2025, President Trump signed an executive order mandating the IRS to cease in it’s transmission of taxpayer refunds via paper checks. Starting with this tax season in 2026 the IRS will accept two ways of refunding overpaid tax liabilities to taxpayers.
The first being direct deposit to a bank or credit union account, a method that the wide majority of taxpayers have already adopted. The second option, which is new, is the ability to have the refund added to an already existing prepaid debit card. For security, we advise clients to use the direct deposit to a bank savings or checking account as a prepaid debit card has the potential of being lost or compromised.
As of now the IRS is still accepting payments to the IRS (for things like your estimated tax payments, extensions, or main tax liability at filing) by paper check however they have indicated a future move toward electronic-only payments but have not release a date for that change.
