No Direct Deposit? Your Refund Just Got Complicated
It is not pleasant getting a refund by a paper check
We have written before about Executive Order 14247, the “no more paper checks” order signed in March 2025. We focused then on what it means for making tax payments. Today we want to flip it around and talk about what it means if you are expecting a tax refund and you did not provide direct deposit information on your return.
A recent article by Nathaniel Puffer, director of New Mexico Legal Aid’s Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, lays out the situation clearly and it is not pretty for taxpayers without bank accounts.
Here is what happens. If you file your return without providing bank account information, the IRS is no longer simply mailing you a check. Instead, the IRS sends a letter called a CP53E. That letter informs you that your refund cannot be issued and asks you to provide direct deposit information. What the letter does not tell you and this is the key problem Puffer highlights is that you have a 30-day deadline to respond. Miss the deadline, and you are looking at waiting an additional six weeks for a paper check to eventually arrive.
Now here is something critically important: the phone number included on the CP53E notice (866-325-4066) provides recorded guidance only and cannot be used to speak with an IRS representative or update banking details. Do not waste your time calling that number. The IRS has removed the option for telephone-based resolution entirely. Bank account information can only be updated by accessing your IRS Online Account at IRS.gov. If you need to speak with a live person, call the main IRS taxpayer assistance line at 1-800-829-1040 (and wait on hold for a long time), or to schedule an in-person appointment at a Taxpayer Assistance Center, call 1-844-545-5640.
For most of our readers who farm or run a business, you likely already have a bank account and use direct deposit. If so, this change probably does not affect you directly. But you may have employees, family members, or seasonal workers who are unbanked or underbanked. The IRS reports that over 830,000 CP53E notices were sent out in the early weeks of the 2026 filing season alone.
The bottom line: if you or someone you know receives a CP53E notice, act within 30 days, go online to IRS.gov to update your banking information, and do not bother calling the number on the notice since it will not help you.
We will keep you posted as additional IRS guidance on this issue becomes available.