Tim’s Tax News on the Tenth – October 2025

In response to Executive Order 14247 requiring the Internal Revenue Service to eliminate the use of physical checks, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that paper tax refund checks for individual taxpayers will be phased out beginning on September 30, 2025. This marks the first step of the broader transition to electronic payments.

The IRS will publish detailed guidance for 2025 tax returns before the 2026 filing season begins. Until further notice, taxpayers should continue using existing forms and procedures, including those filing their 2024 returns on extension of a due date prior to December 31, 2025.

The new procedures are designed to

• Protect taxpayers: Paper checks are over 16 times more likely to be lost, stolen, altered, or delayed than electronic payments. Direct deposit also avoids the possibility that a refund check could be returned to the IRS as undeliverable.
• Speed up refunds: Electronic refunds give taxpayers faster access to refunds, with payments issued in less than 21 days if filing electronically, choosing direct deposit, and there are no issues with the return, whereas non-electronic payments may take 6 weeks or longer for refunds sent by mail.
• Cut costs: Electronic payments are more efficient and cost less than paper remittances.

What this means for individual taxpayers

• Filing stays the same: Taxpayers should continue to file their returns as they normally would, using one of the existing filing options provided by the IRS.
• Refunds go digital: Most refunds will be delivered by direct deposit or other secure electronic methods.
• Help for those without access to bank accounts: Options such as prepaid debit cards, digital wallets, or limited exceptions will be available.

Most individual taxpayers already receive their refunds by direct deposit into their bank accounts. 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 percent of individual refund recipients received their refunds by check through the mail.

Next steps

Executive Order 14247 also applies to payments made to the IRS. Taxpayers should continue to use existing payment options offered by the IRS until further notice. Additional guidance and information for filing 2025 taxes will be issued prior to the 2026 filing season.

If you would like more details, please do not hesitate to call our office. Our office has been successful in helping taxpayers with IRS and IDOR collection problems for over 31 years. If you have a tax or debt problem, please contact me at 847-705-9698 or thughes@lavellelaw.com and find out how we can help you.

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