If you receive an unexpected IRS refund check, do not cash it immediately. It may be an erroneous refund (IRS error) or a potential scam. Verify the check's legitimacy via the Treasury Check Verification System, review your IRS online account, and contact a tax professional to determine if it is a legitimate adjustment.
Find your local IRS office (see link below), call them and tell them what happened, but not the amount, and make an appointment to return the check in person. MAKE SURE YOU GET AN OFFICIAL RECEIPT FROM IRS.
So if you receive an unexpected IRS refund check or bank deposit, what should you do? First, don't deposit or cash the check. Immediately take it to your nearest IRS office and ask for verification. An IRS agent can tell you why you received the check, and whether anyone else filed for it without your knowledge.
How refunds work. If you paid more through the year than you owe in tax, you may get money back. Even if you didn't pay tax, you may still get a refund if you qualify for a refundable credit.
Find out why you received a check from the government
Look up the authorizing agency directly and contact them to find out why they sent the payment. Verify that the check is legitimate: Use the Treasury Check Verification System to confirm that the check you received is legitimate and issued by the government.
Tax refunds can happen if you fill out your W-4 incorrectly, overpay your estimated taxes, are eligible for a refundable tax credit, or receive the Recovery Rebate Credit in 2025. You can use an unexpected tax refund to pay down debt, save for emergencies or college, invest for retirement, and even splurge a little.
If you receive an unexpected check, don't cash it. You could be liable if it's fraudulent. Legitimate companies do not overpay and ask you to send back the difference. Be wary if communication is only happening through social media or messaging apps, as reputable businesses typically use professional channels.
A. The IRS encourages taxpayers to discuss the issue with their financial institutions because they may need to close bank accounts. Taxpayers receiving erroneous refunds should also contact their tax preparers immediately. There are established procedures they should follow to return erroneous funds.
Received a refund but didn't expect it
If you know your payment went to the wrong year, send the refund check back to us with a letter explaining what happened. If you're unsure why you received a refund, contact us. Contact us about your refund.
Stimulus checks are direct cash payments that the federal government issues to offer financial relief for Americans during periods of economic instability.
You likely received a U.S. Treasury check without explanation due to an IRS tax adjustment, an offset resolution, a delayed interest payment on a prior refund, or another government payment, but you should verify it through IRS.gov or USA.gov to confirm authenticity and the reason, as it could be a legitimate correction or even a scam. Log into your IRS account or check your account transcript for details, as they often send explanations separately or after the fact.
Therefore, do not assume a check without this seal is counterfeit. When a blacklight is passed over All U.S. Treasury checks, the ultraviolet (UV) printing becomes visible, and will glow. There are four lines of “FMS” bracketed by the FMS seal on the left, and the United States seal on the right.
Unexpected Checks or Payments
If you receive an unexpected IRS refund check or direct deposit payment, this could be a red flag. The IRS typically does not issue refunds without prior communication. You can verify your status by logging into your IRS account on their official website.
An erroneous refund is defined as "the receipt of any money from the Service to which the recipient is not entitled." This definition includes all erroneous refunds regardless of taxpayer intent or whether the error that caused the erroneous refund was made by the IRS, the taxpayer, or a third party.
You likely received $1,400 from the IRS because you qualified for the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit (RRC) but didn't claim it on your 2021 tax return, and the IRS proactively sent you the payment, which are often called "stimulus checks". This is the third Economic Impact Payment (EIP3) from the COVID-19 relief efforts, intended for individuals and dependents who missed out on the full amount.
Due to the presidential executive order, Modernizing Payments To and From America's Bank Account the IRS is phasing out paper tax refund checks. The IRS encourages taxpayers who do not have a bank account to open one so they can receive refunds by direct deposit.
The IRS $600 rule refers to a change in reporting requirements for third-party payment apps (like Venmo, PayPal) for taxable income from goods and services, where platforms must send a Form 1099-K if you receive over $600 in a year, intended to capture gig economy/side hustle income, though delays and phased implementation have adjusted the timeline, with current rules for 2024 using a higher threshold ($5,000) before fully phasing to $600 for future years, but remember all taxable income, regardless of form, must always be reported.
Below are five places where you can cash a federal tax refund check.
An unexpected tax refund usually means you overpaid taxes through withholding or estimated payments, or you qualified for a refundable tax credit, but sometimes it's an IRS error or part of a scam, so you should check your tax account on the IRS website to verify the source and amount. Common reasons include incorrect W-4 settings leading to excess withholding, self-employed individuals overestimating taxes, or receiving credits like the EITC or Child Tax Credit.
If the IRS is not able to deposit your refund into your bank account for any reason, the IRS will mail you a check instead. Sometimes the routing or bank account number is wrong, invalid, missing one digit, or if the name is not exact as the bank account, this can cause rejection of the deposit.
If your refund was a paper Treasury check and hasn't been cashed:
Never deposit a check from someone you don't know or trust. Don't send money back for any reason. Double-check job offers, sweepstakes, or “overpayments” independently. Report suspicious checks to your bank right away.
There is no legitimate reason why anyone would give you a check or money order and ask you to send cash in return. Just because you can withdraw the cash quickly doesn't mean the check is real. Fake checks can take weeks to discover. Don't transfer or wire money for someone you don't know.