Federal Refunds

[Lemgirl58]

Why did Turbo tax allow me to file my federal taxes and request refund via USPS, when there is an Executive Order # 14247, that mandates all federal disbursements, including tax refunds. must transition to electronic payments?

[NCperson]

@Lemgirl58 because that executive order is "squisky".

If you requested a paper check for your refund, you will receive a letter from the IRS explaining how to provide your banking information so they can electronically send you the refund.

if you ignore the letter, they will send the paper check around 4-6 weeks later. 

The IRS is caught between the executive order and the fact that the IRS is required to pay interest on any refund held for more than 45 days (the clock begins on tax returns the later of the date the tax return is accepted or April 15)

[kb7mci]

Gee thanks turbotax, my IRS letter said I had 30 days to give them an account number and that all payments would be electronic after last September... nothing about getting the check anyway.

It would have been nice if Turbo tax included that fact in the filing part of the program, or would have pointed me to giving direct deposit for that reason.  It would have been nice to have had an option in the return to amend the return to change to direct deposit. (This was known since last September, you can't claim ignorance Intuit).

Instead, I wasted my Saturday trying to log into IRS.gov, going through that ridiculous ID.ME registration which makes me nervous to begin with, but no other option.  ID.ME couldn't access my camera, so they just hung up on me and told me to try again.  No help, no minute or two to find another connection option beyond google chat.  Round and Round I went.

What made me most frustrated is that until I found this on the community, I could not find anything on Turbo Tax highlighting this change (I consider major since I am a boomer and like physical checks and don't like giving permission for the government to yank it back on a whim or calculation error ... they did this to my mom, and my father in law in the past, un-deposited money a month later after it had been spent and checks started bouncing).

I have bought turbotax for decades to have them monitor the rule changes so I don't have to... so much for that.  And when I tried to contact them for more information, or to note my dis-satisfaction, they made it very difficult with phone purgatory bots not understanding me.  Bye Bye TT Advantage... I lost faith.

[mesquitebean]

@ kb7mci    Yes, getting the ID.me account can be a bit tedious/onerous, but once obtained, it's handy.  It can also be used at the Social Security website, and the Medicare website is transitioning to that form of log-in credentialing.

If you received a CP53E letter, here's some more info and FAQs at the IRS website:

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/understanding-your-cp53e-notice

There are a few exceptions where they will still send a check.  And if someone doesn't respond to the letter, it says they will issue a check after 6 weeks.

I have read that the government is also at some point to start phasing out paper checks for payments as well.  So some people will likely be unhappy when the IRS at some point requires tax payments to be made electronically instead of by check, such as estimated tax payments, extension requests, balance due payments, etc.  But those are already very easy to make at the IRS Direct Pay website, or inside an online IRS account. or through EFTPS ( this latter method requires first receiving a PIN by mail.)