I saw a commercial on TV this morning encouraging people to bring their IRS Refund Checks to a casino in Mississippi. The enticement was something like, we’ll enter you in a special contest, give you a $100 of play money and cash your check for you! After hearing the ad, Pam encouraged me to write something, so here goes.

IRS Direct Deposit

FAST

The quickest way for taxpayers to get their refund is to electronically file their federal tax return and use direct deposit. Use direct deposit for paper tax returns, too.

SECURE

Since refunds go right into a bank account, there’s no risk of having a paper check stolen or lost in the mail. This is the same electronic transfer system used to deposit nearly 98 percent of all Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefits into millions of accounts.

CONVENIENT

There’s no need to wait for a refund check to come in the mail.

EASY

Choosing direct deposit is easy. Just make sure you give us the correct bank account and routing number.

OPTIONS

Taxpayers can split a refund into several financial accounts. These include checking, savings, health, education and certain retirement accounts. The U.S. Treasury Department offers a retirement account. It’s called a MyRA account.  Designate all or a part of a refund to a new MyRA account. Simply mark the “savings” box in the refund section of the return. Use IRS Form 8888, Allocation of Refund (including Savings Bond Purchases), to deposit a refund in up to three accounts.

Taxpayers should deposit refunds into accounts in their own name, their spouse’s name or both.

Avoid making a deposit into accounts owned by others. Some banks require both spouses’ names on the account to deposit a tax refund from a joint return. Taxpayers should check with their bank for direct deposit rules.

There is a limit of three electronic direct deposit refunds made into a single financial account or pre-paid debit card. The IRS will send a notice and a refund check in the mail to taxpayers who exceed the limit.