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Are you old? If you are unsure, let鈥檚 take a little test. Hark back to the days of yore when you first got a bank account.

Do you remember when a passbook savings account was really a book? Transactions were entered by a teller rolling the book through a typewriter.

This was exciting! You could deposit $25 and leave with the deposit duly recorded and an updated balance shown in your little book.

Maybe you鈥檙e not that old. But you remember when a more experienced person had to show you how to write a check.

Write a number in one box and write out the full amount payable on the line below. Be sure to write 鈥渁nd 00/100s鈥� and write a horizontal line to fill any open space.

Even young people remember using something called 鈥渃ash.鈥� If you took a college economics class, maybe you remember this being called part of the 鈥淢1鈥� money supply.

If you tell your parents, 鈥淛ust swipe your card,鈥� and use quarters only for obtaining large gumballs, you are probably not old.

Now that we know a little bit about you, we can move on to the point of this column. Like everything these days, this begins with an executive order (EO).

In March 2025, EO a bazillion and thirty mandated that federal disbursements shall henceforth be made by electronic transfer.

Henceforth is an important legal concept, so I do need to be precise. The hencing and forthing of this EO began Sept. 30, 2025.

This tax filing season is after that important date. Refunds that could be received heretofore by a paper check must, henceforth, be received by electronic deposit.

Why? Well, the EO said that paper checks impose unnecessary costs, delays, risks of fraud, lost payments, theft and inefficiencies.

That all sounds worse than the list of possible side effects for a drug advertised on television.

My dad taught me that banked turns allowed stock cars to run faster. Talladega Superspeedway has the highest banked turns.

It turns out that people can be banked or unbanked, also. Being banked does not help with your speed, but it does have other benefits.

Unbanked people cannot receive tax refunds by electronic transfer. Even banked people can have problems with electronic payment forms.

Donald Fagan wrote a song called I.G.Y., 鈥淎 just machine to make big decisions, programmed by fellows with compassion and vision.鈥�

What if you are banked but lack access to this just machine that would allow you 鈥渙nline access鈥� to communicate with the government鈥檚 machine?

Or maybe you can鈥檛 find a fellow with compassion and vision to assist you in using your machine for this online access to the government.

Well, after filing your tax return seeking a paper refund, you will instead receive an IRS Form CP53E.

This form will tell you that you have 30 days to establish an online connection with your government, providing them with your banking information.

Over a million people have received these notices so far. Some think this is creating, not preventing, unnecessary costs, delays and inefficiencies.

To make the connection to the government following this notice, you need access to technology and an understanding of how to use it.

Older people find this challenging. It has also been reported that tribal communities have unique issues in accessing the electronic payment system.

You鈥檒l have to set up an 鈥淚D.me鈥� account. I did this a while ago for reasons other than tax refund receipts. It takes some time and requires you to provide a photograph.

A popular publication among tax policy nerds is called Tax Notes. I subscribe and have authored many items in this publication.

A well-deserved shoutout must be made for a local tax author. On March 30, Nathaniel Puffer wrote a piece in Tax Notes.

Puffer is the director of the New Mexico Legal Aid鈥檚 Low Income Tax Clinic. He wrote about this paper refund issue.

What made his piece particularly interesting is that he told a story about an actual client that he had to help navigate the online banking system.

It did not go well. In time, we all need to move from passbooks to electronic banking. But this EO moved with the speed of a Talladega banked turn. Where鈥檚 the fire, Bucky?

Jim Hamill is the director of tax practice at Reynolds, Hix & Co. in sa国际传媒官网网页入口. He can be reached at jimhamill@rhcocpa.com.