IRS Seeks to Return Undelivered Checks to Taxpayers

The Internal Revenue Service is looking to return tax refunds that were not
delivered earlier this year because of mailing address errors. 

Taxpayers who did not get their refund in the mail as expected and believe their refund
check may have been returned to the IRS should use the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on IRS.gov. Taxpayers can access a telephone version of  “Where’s My Refund?” by calling 1-800-829-1954.

Nearly three-quarters of all individual income tax filers claim a refund on their annual tax return. Although the vast majority of those refunds are issued as direct deposits, nearly 30 million taxpayers request paper refund checks. The IRS recommends filing tax returns electronically and using direct deposit. Electronic filing eliminates the risk of lost returns and reduces errors on tax returns that can cause refund delays. Direct deposit prevents the possibility a check being returned to the IRS as undeliverable and ends the danger of paper checks being lost or stolen.

Taxpayers should be aware that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by e-mail. E-mail informing taxpayers of pending tax refunds and asking for personal information are phishing scams. The agency urges
taxpayers receiving such messages not to release any personal information, reply, open any attachments or click on any links to avoid malicious code that can infect their computers. 

The best way for an individual to verify if she or he has a pending refund is going
directly to IRS.gov and using the “Where’s My Refund?”
tool.