A tax return filed without bank details is not turned away. The IRS says the return is still accepted and processed, the refund waits, and a letter and then a CP53E notice arrive in the mail asking for a response within 30 days. The agency also says it contacts taxpayers about this only by sending a letter through the U.S. mail, a rule that doubles as a test for scams.
A return without bank details still goes through
Direct deposit remains the primary way the IRS pays refunds, but the agency says providing electronic payment information is voluntary. Its guidance on Executive Order 14247, signed March 25, 2025, asks filers to include bank details when they file. A return that leaves them out is still accepted and processed.
The catch is the refund. The Taxpayer Advocate Service, the taxpayer-help office inside the IRS, says returns without bank information are processed but the refund is frozen. Filers who skipped the bank lines, or whose deposit was rejected, are the people who will see the letter described below.
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A frozen refund does not mean a lost one. The IRS says that when a response comes in, the refund is immediately released by direct deposit or paper check. When nothing comes in and no other issue exists, it goes out as a paper check after six weeks, which is roughly a month and a half of waiting that a direct deposit would have skipped.
The letter first, then the CP53E
The IRS describes a two-step mailing. It first sends a letter to the taxpayer’s last-known address on record. The taxpayer then receives a CP53E notice in the mail requesting a response within 30 days, and the response can carry banking details or an explanation through the IRS Individual Online Account.
The notice can also arrive for a different reason. According to the IRS page on the CP53E, it goes out when a return shows a refund with invalid, missing or rejected bank information, or when a balance-due return is corrected into a refund because of unreported estimated payments or math errors.
The same page says the refund may be reduced if the taxpayer owes other debts, and that a paper check follows after 6 weeks when there is no reply. Because letters go to the last-known address on record, anyone who has moved since the last return depends on the address the IRS still holds.
House Democrats put a number on the first wave. In a March 10 release, Reps. Danny K. Davis of Illinois and Terri A. Sewell of Alabama said more than 830,000 taxpayers had received CP53E notices that their refunds were being held, with some delays beyond two months.
The two lawmakers wrote to Acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent that there is “no simple process for these taxpayers to request an immediate release” of a held refund. They asked how filers without an online account can apply for a paper check and by when the IRS would answer, with a March 23 deadline.
Mail is the only channel, so any call is suspect
The IRS says it will only contact taxpayers about this by sending a letter through the U.S. mail. IRS employees cannot take direct deposit information over the phone or in person. A text, email or call asking for bank details tied to a held refund falls outside what the agency says it does.
The notice also has a built-in check. The IRS says the Add bank account option sits under Notifications in the online account and appears only after a CP53E has been issued. A filer who signs in directly and finds no such option has reason to question the letter or message in hand before sharing a routing number.
The online account is the only way to add the account, the IRS says, and there is one opportunity to do it. That makes a stranger’s offer to take the details by phone doubly wrong: it is outside the IRS process, and the process allows no do-over if the details end up in the wrong hands or the wrong field.
What else the same guidance changes
Taxpayers without a bank account are pointed to certain prepaid debit cards and mobile apps. The IRS says limited exceptions to electronic methods will be made for hardship and for legal or procedural situations. The CP53E page lists selecting an exception as the route to a paper check without the wait.
Payments going to the IRS are shifting too. For now, the agency says, mailed payments, including cash, checks and money orders, will still be accepted and processed. It plans to cut reliance on paper over time, and EFTPS payment options for individuals end in late 2026. Individuals have been unable to create new EFTPS enrollments since October 17, 2025.
Two groups sit outside the change for now. The IRS says no changes have been made to how refunds are issued to deceased persons, and it will keep issuing checks under current practice until further guidance. Businesses are on a different track, with direct deposit being added to most return types and paper check refunds phased out over time.
The practical shape is a trade. Filing without bank details keeps the return moving but puts the refund in the hands of a letter that only mail can deliver. Anyone who filed that way and has since changed addresses now has one question to answer: will the IRS letter find the right mailbox?
Filed without bank details and waiting on a letter?
A filer who skipped the bank lines can wait about six weeks for a paper check if the CP53E goes unanswered, and the letters go only to the address the IRS has on record. The refund can also be trimmed by offset if other debts are owed.
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit includes a notice decoder for the letters that follow a held refund, plus a refund status tracker spreadsheet. Part 2, The Big Change: Paper Checks Are Ending, explains the shift to electronic refunds, so the mailing sequence is easier to place when it arrives.
Sort the IRS letters and time a held refund with a decoder and tracker →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 15 Ways Retirees Are Tapping a Record $14.9 Trillion in Home Equity
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
