This usually happens when the following things occur:
- The financial institution that you bank with rejected the direct deposit from the IRS.
- Or the account number you entered may have been wrong
- Or the name on the account may not have matched what was on your return
- If a bank account has already received 3 direct-deposits from the
IRS, any additional deposit requests will instead be mailed out as
refund checks.
- You requested to have your refund direct-deposited into a foreign account
If any of those occur, the bank sends your refund back to the
IRS. And then the IRS will then re-process the refund, cut a check, and
send it by mail to the address on your return. Same with your state refund.
Hope this helps!