More than 830,000 taxpayers have received notices so far this tax season saying their tax refunds are being delayed as the Internal Revenue Service implements an executive order from President Trump requiring electronic payment of tax refunds.
Last March, Trump signed an
Two Democrats on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee are asking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the delays in processing the tax refunds.
"Having reviewed the IRS notice and called the IRS phone lines, we learned that there is no simple process for these taxpayers to request an immediate release of their refund by paper check without waiting at least 10 weeks," wrote House Ways and Means Worker and Family Support Subcommittee ranking member Danny Davis, D-Illinois, and Oversight Subcommittee ranking member Terri A. Sewell, D-Alabama, in a
They noted that last year, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins reported that over 10 million individual taxpayers received their tax refunds by paper check and may be unbanked, have impairments, or face systemic or geographic challenges that make providing electronic deposit information difficult. As a result, this year, over 830,000 taxpayers have received notices from the IRS that their refunds are being held and delayed, some by more than two months, because they did not provide the required banking information.
Tax professionals are seeing the delays for their clients first hand. "It's a fact, and what was told to us from the IRS months ago, and it's all the result of having that executive order from President Trump in March of last year, which said that the Treasury was going to stop issuing paper checks and also stop receiving checks for payment," said Tom O'Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals, during a press call Tuesday.
However, he makes sure his clients are getting the refunds sent to their bank accounts. "I will tell you that with my clients, it has not been a problem because I haven't been giving them an option," said O'Saben. "I'm educating them and saying, Listen, you no longer can receive a check."
Some of his clients prefer to get checks, but he emphasizes to them that they will receive their checks faster through direct deposit. "They kind of like to get that check and hold it and see it," said O'Saben. "And I said, OK, we can file that way if you wish. But here's what's going to happen. In about six weeks, instead of you having a check from the IRS in your mailbox, you're going to have a letter, and that letter is going to say, 'Either provide us some information to do a direct deposit or another way you want to receive it, for example, like a prepaid debit card.' And then from there, it's going to be another eight to 12 weeks for them to get their money. When I've explained that to clients, they said, 'You know what, let's do direct deposit.'"
His tax software runs a diagnostic that alerts him when clients haven't provided any direct deposit information. O'Saben is also educating his clients when they have balances due that could hold up their tax refund.
Term limits
Separately, a group of Senate Democrats sent their own
"Since August 8, 2025—when President Trump removed Commissioner Billy Long—the IRS has operated without a confirmed Commissioner," wrote Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, in a letter to Bessent and and Dan Scavino, director of the Office of Presidential Personnel. "During that time, the Secretary of the Treasury has served as Acting Commissioner while simultaneously holding another Cabinet office, and a newly invented 'chief executive officer' has assumed day-to-day control of the agency. The position of IRS CEO is a fake job that Congress has never authorized. There is no reason to see the Trump administration's appointment of a CEO as anything more than a strategy to avoid the vetting and confirmation process for a replacement commissioner… The Acting Commissioner's authority appears to have expired on March 6, 2026, absent a pending nomination. No nominee has been submitted."
In the same letter, the senators also pointed out that assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy Kenneth Kies has been serving as acting IRS chief counsel since November, and his legally permitted term of service in that role expires in June.
"The same pattern has repeated itself at the Office of Chief Counsel … The acting period [for acting Chief Counsel Kenneth Kies] expires on June 16, 2026, absent a new nomination," the senators wrote. "Although the IRS is supposed to be nonpartisan, the only two Senate-confirmed positions at the IRS continue to be held 'temporarily' by Treasury officials who have political jobs."
Tax season stats
Bessent separately reported Tuesday on the IRS's progress halfway through tax season, the first one in which the new tax breaks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have been implemented. Republicans have rebranded the OBBBA as the Working Families Tax Cuts.
"Halfway through this filing season, the Working Families Tax Cuts are already delivering meaningful relief to middle- and low-income taxpayers, increasing after-tax income and putting more money back into the pockets of American families, workers, and small business owners," Bessent said in a statement. "Treasury and the IRS have worked tirelessly to ensure that relief was delivered efficiently, securely, and on time. This filing season reflects our commitment to making the tax system work for working families. Because of the landmark legislation signed into law by President Trump, millions of Americans are keeping more of what they earn and seeing their paychecks go further than ever before."
As of March 8, 2026:
- Nearly 63.5 million tax returns have been processed — 45% of the anticipated total number of tax returns by April 15 — with an average refund over $3,700.
- Nearly 45% of tax returns – over 27.5 million – claimed at least one of President Trump's new tax cuts on Schedule 1-A.
- Over 3.5 million returns have claimed No Tax on Tips
- Over 15.5 million returns have claimed No Tax on Overtime
- Over 9.2 million returns have claimed the Enhanced Deduction for Seniors
- Over 690,000 returns have claimed No Tax on Car Loan Interest
- Nearly 3.5 million Trump Accounts have been opened; over 800,000 qualify for the $1,000 pilot program.
