Frozen 2025 1040 refund and the IRS CP53E notice

If you are expecting a 2025 tax refund that has not yet arrived and/or you have received a IRS CP53E notice then the Taxpayer Advocate Service has the following guidance –

There has been a lot of information in the news about how the IRS is moving away from paper checks. While direct deposit is a safe and secure way to get your tax refund, there are scammers out there looking to capitalize on any confusion about updating your bank account information.

If you filed your tax return, are due a refund, and did not add your bank account information to the return or your banking information was incorrect, the IRS will issue you a CP53E notice.

In a nutshell if you expect to receive a paper refund check then you may be in for an extended delay. The IRS allows you to provide them with the correct banking information and the only way to do so is to update your banking information is through your IRS Online Account.

You can currently only create and/or access your IRS Online Account using your ID.me login.