The IRS generally stopped issuing paper refund checks to individuals after 30 September 2025, under Executive Order 14247. A refund on Form 1040 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) is now meant to arrive by direct deposit to an account in your own name at a financial institution in the United States, and an ordinary UK bank account cannot receive it. If a return gives no usable account, the IRS writes to you first, and a paper check has become the slow fallback rather than the default.
This post is for US citizens and green card holders in Britain who expect money back from the IRS, whether from overpaid tax, a refundable credit or an amended return. It extends our guide to US and UK tax returns for Americans in the UK and covers what the order changed, which accounts the IRS accepts, the notice that follows a return with no account, the exceptions published so far, and the option of leaving an overpayment with the IRS. Where official guidance is still pending, we say so.
Has the IRS stopped sending paper refund checks
Largely, yes. Executive Order 14247, signed on 25 March 2025, told the Treasury to stop issuing paper checks for federal payments from 30 September 2025, to the extent the law allows. The IRS applied this first to individual refunds, and its current Form 1040 instructions say paper refund checks will generally stop unless an exception applies.
The order covers money moving in both directions. For refunds, the IRS treats direct deposit as the main route and says it will also accept other electronic methods, such as prepaid debit cards and mobile payment apps that carry a routing and account number. For payments to the IRS, checks and money orders are still accepted for the time being, although electronic payment is strongly encouraged. Business refunds are to be phased out later, on a separate timetable.
Some things have not changed. The IRS says the way a return is filed is unchanged, and a return without bank details is still accepted and processed. What has changed is the default. A return filed from London with the refund section left blank no longer simply produces a check in the post. The IRS published its questions and answers on the order in fact sheet FS-2026-02 and says they may be updated, so the position here is the one published at the time of writing.
Can the IRS deposit a refund into a UK bank account
No. The Form 1040 instructions (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) allow direct deposit only to an account at a bank or other financial institution in the United States. The IRS page on refunds for taxpayers living abroad adds that a foreign or international correspondent bank holding an account at a Federal Reserve Bank can also receive one. An ordinary UK current account does not qualify.
The account must be in your name, or be a joint account you share. The instructions warn against sending any part of a refund to someone else's account, including a preparer's. A refund can be split across more than one account by attaching Form 8888, but each must again be a US account in your name. The routing number must have nine digits, and entries that are crossed out or do not match the bank's records are rejected. The IRS also caps how many refunds can go to one account or prepaid card in a year.
An American who kept a US checking or savings account after moving can simply give those details on the return. The IRS points people without an account to the federal bank and credit union locators to find one that opens accounts online, and to prepaid cards and apps that issue a US routing and account number. We do not recommend any provider. The IRS also keeps general guidance for taxpayers living abroad (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) that is worth checking before each filing season.
- Eligible: a checking, savings, brokerage or similar account, including an IRA, at a US institution
- Eligible on the IRS page for people abroad: a correspondent bank with an account at a Federal Reserve Bank
- Eligible: a prepaid card or app account with a US routing and account number
- Not eligible: a UK account that has no US routing number
- Not eligible: an account in another person's name, including a preparer's
What happens if your return gives no US bank account
The return is still processed. Where the refund section is blank, or the bank rejects the deposit, the IRS writes to you by post at the address on the return and issues notice CP53E. The notice gives a short window to add an account or select an exception through your IRS online account. With no reply, a paper check follows after a further wait.
The reply is made online. The IRS says its staff cannot take or change bank details by telephone or in person, and its page on the CP53E notice says you have one opportunity to add or update the account through the online account. If the new account is then rejected or cannot be validated, a paper check is issued instead. The IRS explains how to read and answer its correspondence on its page about understanding an IRS notice or letter (opens the official IRS page in a new tab), and the CP53E page sets out the exact steps and time limits.
For someone in the UK, the risks are practical. The letter goes to the address on the return, so an out-of-date address can mean the window closes unseen. A paper check, if one is issued, is posted to the same address. And a refund that runs through the notice process takes longer than one sent straight to an account given on the return. Our IRS representation work covers replies to notices of this kind.
- The return is processed as normal without usable bank details
- The IRS writes by post, and notice CP53E follows
- You add an account or select an exception in your IRS online account, once
- If the account is accepted, the refund is released by direct deposit
- If there is no reply, or the account is rejected, a paper check is issued
Which exceptions to electronic refunds has the IRS published
Only in general terms. The executive order lists broad categories, and the IRS says limited exceptions exist and can be selected in the online account after a CP53E notice. We have not found an IRS page that sets out the exception conditions in full, or one that treats living abroad without a US account as an exception in itself.
The order allows exceptions where electronic payment is not feasible. Its categories are people without access to banking or electronic payment systems, certain emergency payments where electronic delivery would cause undue hardship, national security and law enforcement activity, and other circumstances the Treasury sets out in regulations or guidance. It also says that anyone who qualifies must be given another way to be paid. The IRS refers people to the phone number on their notice for help with exceptions.
For taxpayers abroad, the IRS fact sheet says international taxpayers should keep using existing options to file, pay and receive refunds, and that the IRS is developing alternatives, including partnerships with international payment providers. At the time of writing we have found no announcement that such a service has started. Separately, the IRS page on refunds for taxpayers living abroad, last updated in May 2026, still says a check is mailed where there is no US account. Read together, a refund for someone in the UK without a US account can still arrive as a check, but by the slower notice route.
Should you apply a refund to next year's estimated tax
Sometimes. Instead of taking a refund, you can enter on the return the part of the overpayment you want credited to the following year's estimated tax. The Form 1040 instructions say this choice cannot be changed later, so it suits someone who expects to owe US tax next year, not someone who simply wants to avoid the bank account question.
IRS guidance on estimated tax for individuals (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) explains the effect. On a return filed on time, the credited amount is treated as a payment made on 15 April of the following year. None of it can be refunded until the next year's return is filed, and it cannot be used for anything else, including a bill that arises if the earlier return is later amended. The credit goes to your own account unless a statement asks for it to go to your spouse's.
For most Americans in the UK who claim the foreign tax credit (opens the official IRS page in a new tab), UK tax already covers the US tax on a UK salary, so there may be little US tax for an estimated payment to meet. The option makes more sense where US tax is due each year on income the UK credit does not fully reach, such as the net investment income tax on investment income. Carrying a refund forward defers the bank account question rather than solving it.
How to plan for a US refund while living in the UK
Settle the payment route before the return is filed. Decide which US account in your own name will receive the refund, check its routing and account numbers with the institution, and confirm the address on the return is current. Filing with complete details is quicker than answering a CP53E notice from abroad and waiting for a check.
Take a US citizen employed in Bristol, married to a British spouse and filing as married filing separately, with two children who are US citizens. UK tax covers her US tax through the foreign tax credit, and the refundable part of the child tax credit produces a US refund, as our post on the child tax credit for American families in Britain explains. She closed her US bank account when she moved. Filing with the refund section blank would mean a letter, a notice and one chance to add an account online. If she opens an eligible account in her own name first and enters it on Form 1040, the refund goes straight there.
Timing follows the filing calendar. Americans abroad have an automatic two-month extension (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) to 15 June, and Form 4868 moves the date to 15 October, but a refund is paid only once the return has been processed. Our post on US and UK tax deadlines in one calendar sets out when each return is due. A refund claimed on an amended return on Form 1040-X must generally be claimed within three years from filing or two years from payment, whichever is later.
Our individual tax returns service enters the refund details with the return, and our cross-border tax work keeps the US and UK figures consistent. The guide for Americans in the UK covers the rest of the annual filing cycle.
General information, not advice. The right answer depends on your circumstances and the tax year concerned.
