Fuel for Thought

Do You Still Use Paper Checks?

Many of you may already know, but for those who haven’t run across this information, there are major changes coming September 30, 2025. These changes will affect how you send or receive federal tax payments or refunds.
If you are an owner operator, you should already know about sending in your federal estimated tax payments each quarter. If you were in the habit of sending a payment voucher and a check or money order to the Federal government each quarter, this will soon end. As of September 30, 2025, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) will no longer accept paper payments (checks or money orders). After this date, they will only accept electronic funds for payments and they will only issue refunds electronically. If you have not already, now would be a good time to set up one of the accepted forms of electronic transfer methods. There are several options, but they are not all the same. Choose the method that works best for your situation.
IRS Direct Pay is one option. You can set up an account in just a few minutes and make payments quickly. There is no additional fee to use this option.
EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System) is another choice. This one takes longer to set up, about a week to ten days since you have to wait for the mail to send you additional information to be able to log in and make payments. There is no additional fee to use this option.
Debit card, credit card or digital wallet is another form of accepted payment, but this option charges a fee based on the amount of the payment.
As for refunds, these will be given in the form of a debit card for those without a bank account. For those with a bank account, refunds will be deposited directly to the bank account you designate.
The paperless payments also apply to SSA (Social Security Administration) payments as well as Veteran benefits and any other Federal benefits.
While most of this applies to taxes, it is important to note that this is a Federal act to streamline payments (to or from the U.S. Treasury), so it will apply to all Federal payments.
A side note for the truck owners out there, the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) has also announced that it will no longer accept paper payments, no checks, no money orders as of the same date, September 30, 2025. This includes fees for initial application of operating authority registration, reinstatement or legal name changes, civil penalty payments, and other fee-based transactions.
The Federal government is going to an all electronic payment system and you will need to set up the proper accounts for interacting with the Federal government to ensure timely payments or risk delays and penalties for underpayment or non-payment.
These changes are being made due to White House Executive Order 14247 from March 25, 2025.
The check is the mail will no longer be even a poor excuse for non-payment after September 30, 2025. Prepare now, if you haven’t already, so you can keep your business running smoothly.

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
-  Bill Gates

See you down the road,
Greg