I received a CP53E from the IRs today. The problem they say is that they can’t process my direct deposit because of one of the following 3 reasons. All three reasons revolve around invalid bank account numbers.
The thing is I wasn’t receiving a refund. I owed them. I’ve checked my bank account, and the two withdrawals were completed on the dates I had specified. (I had two withdrawals because I had forgotten a 1099 and had to file an amended return.)
I called the number on the letter, and it was nothing but an automated system that provided no help. I started to logon to the IRS website, but when they asked for my driver’s license I stopped.
I don’t think I need to follow-up unless someone here can give a good reason.
The IRS is sending out a lot more CP53Es because they are phasing out paper checks, so taxpayers requesting paper checks are being asked for bank information. Scammers caught on to this, and have sent out scam letters, so that’s probably what you received.
Do you already have an IRS account set up? If not, you should probably set one up. Your driver’s license information is one of the types of ID they do accept when setting up an account.
My last refund from the Feds was for tax year 2021. I typically try to owe the government a few hundred dollars.
What was weird about the phone number that I called was that it was all automated. I couldn’t raise a live person. I don’t remember all of the choices that were offered but what struck me odd was that they said they couldn’t change any bank account information, that has to be done on the IRS website. So I wonder why they had a phone number to call when there was nothing they could do?
That might be the scam part of the letter, although the fact that you couldn’t reach an actual person is kind of strange for a scam. The phone number to reach a real person at the IRS is (800) 829-1040.