How you change your direct deposit information with the IRS depends entirely on timing. Before you file, you can edit the routing and account numbers on your return as often as you like. Once the IRS accepts the return, you generally cannot change the account tied to that refund, though a CP53E notice introduced for 2026 gives some taxpayers a one-time online update window, and a bounced deposit triggers its own process. For tax payments rather than refunds, bank changes run through IRS Direct Pay or the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, each with its own rules.
Before You File: Full Control
While your return is still in your hands, the bank information is yours to edit. Tax software prompts you for a routing number and account number during the e-file steps, and you can change them as many times as needed before submitting. On a paper Form 1040, you write the numbers directly on the return.1Internal Revenue Service. Get Your Refund Faster: Tell IRS to Direct Deposit Your Refund to One, Two, or Three Accounts
To split a refund across two or three accounts, attach Form 8888. Each deposit has to be at least $1.2Internal Revenue Service. Form 8888 – Allocation of Refund
Some mobile payment apps and prepaid debit cards accept direct deposit as long as they have a routing and account number you can enter. Confirm those numbers with the provider, since they often differ from the card number on the front. One cap to remember: no more than three refunds can be deposited into the same account or prepaid card in a single tax year. A fourth is converted to a paper check, which adds about four weeks.3Internal Revenue Service. Direct Deposit Limits
After the IRS Accepts Your Return
Once the IRS accepts your e-filed return, the general rule is that you cannot change the bank account tied to that refund.4Internal Revenue Service. Refund Inquiries 25 Three narrower situations still leave you a path.
The CP53E Notice (New for 2026)
If the IRS flags an issue with the bank information on your accepted return, it may send a CP53E notice. That notice gives you 30 days to log into your IRS Online Account and enter a new or updated bank account. You get exactly one attempt. If the bank still rejects the deposit after your update, the IRS switches to a paper check.5Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP53E Notice
A few constraints matter. IRS phone employees cannot make the update for you; the change has to happen in your online account. Miss the 30-day window and the IRS issues a paper check after six weeks. You can check whether a CP53E has been issued by looking at your refund status in your online account.5Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP53E Notice
If Your Return Was Rejected
A rejected return is the easiest fix. Correct the bank details (and whatever else caused the rejection) in your tax software and resubmit. If you have to switch to paper, the paper return must be postmarked by the later of the original due date or 10 calendar days after the IRS notified you of the rejection.6Internal Revenue Service. Age, Name or SSN Rejects, Errors, Correction Procedures
If the Bank Rejects the Deposit
When the return was accepted but the bank cannot process the deposit, usually because the account is closed or the numbers are wrong, the refund bounces back to the IRS. The IRS then researches the account and may send a CP53C notice. If you have not received your refund or a follow-up letter within 10 weeks, the IRS advises calling the number on that notice.7Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP53C Notice Open audits, balance-due situations, and bankruptcy can push that timeline out further.
When the Refund Already Went to the Wrong Account
This is the hard case. Banks are not required to verify that the name on an incoming deposit matches the name on the account.8Taxpayer Advocate Service (IRS). Improve the Filing Process – Authorize the Treasury Department to Recover Misdirected Deposits Some do check, many do not. If you entered a valid routing and account number that belongs to someone else and the deposit posts, recovery falls on you. The IRS has no authority to pull money back from another person’s account and will not share information about the account holder. Your route is to work directly with the financial institution.9Internal Revenue Service. Refund Inquiries 18
Stop the Deposit Before It Posts
If the return has not yet posted to the IRS system, call 800-829-1040 (Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and ask the IRS to stop the direct deposit. The IRS will not send it to a different bank, but it can convert the payment to a paper check.9Internal Revenue Service. Refund Inquiries 18
Start a Refund Trace
If the refund has already been sent, start a refund trace by calling the IRS or filing Form 3911 by mail or fax. Wait at least five days after the IRS says the refund was issued. The IRS typically responds within six weeks, longer during peak season. Check Where’s My Refund first; refund information appears within 24 hours of e-filing or four weeks after mailing a paper return.10Internal Revenue Service. Refunds
Changing Bank Details for Tax Payments
Updating bank information for payments you owe is separate from anything to do with your refund. The two main platforms handle it differently.
IRS Direct Pay
Direct Pay is a free, no-registration tool for individual taxpayers. You enter your bank information fresh with each payment, so there is no stored profile to edit. If you schedule a payment and realize the account was wrong, you can cancel or modify it until 11:45 p.m. ET two business days before the scheduled withdrawal date. After that cutoff, the payment goes through as entered.11Internal Revenue Service. Direct Pay With Bank Account
Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS)
EFTPS is an enrollment-based system used mainly by businesses and by individuals making frequent payments such as quarterly estimated taxes. Because EFTPS stores your bank information in a profile, changing your account is more involved. You have three options:
- Online. Log into eftps.gov, go to “My Profile,” and select “Edit Financial Institution Information.” After verification, a new PIN arrives by mail.
- Phone. Call 800-650-3345 and follow the prompts to add a new bank. Each account gets its own PIN, also delivered by mail.
- Mail. Submit corrected bank details using the Confirmation/Update Form from your original enrollment materials.
If scheduled payments are tied to the old account, keep that account open until they clear, or cancel and reschedule them under the new one. You can skip verification and self-select a new PIN immediately, but if the information turns out to be wrong, the payment will bounce and you could face a penalty.12Treasury Fiscal Service. EFTPS Payment Instruction Booklet Changing your bank information in Direct Pay or EFTPS has no effect on the account tied to your annual refund; those systems are entirely separate.
Penalties for a Bounced Payment
When incorrect bank information causes a tax payment to bounce, the IRS treats it as a dishonored check. The penalty depends on the amount:
- Payments under $1,250: the payment amount or $25, whichever is less.
- Payments of $1,250 or more: 2% of the payment amount.
Interest accrues on the penalty itself. If the failure was a banking error rather than insufficient funds, you can request penalty removal by sending a written explanation with supporting documents, such as a statement showing the account had adequate funds.13Internal Revenue Service. Dishonored Check or Other Form of Payment Penalty
Keep Your Mailing Address Current
Every failed direct deposit eventually becomes a paper check, and that check goes to the address the IRS has on file. A change-of-address form with the post office may not be enough, because not all post offices forward government checks. Notify the IRS separately:
- File Form 8822. Processing takes four to six weeks.
- Use your new address when you file your next return.
- Send a signed written statement with your full name, Social Security number, and both addresses to the IRS service center where you last filed.
- Call the IRS or visit in person. You will need to verify your identity and confirm the address on file.
Because address changes can take over a month to process, filing Form 8822 early is worthwhile if you know a refund may end up on paper.14Internal Revenue Service. Address Changes
Amended Returns Cannot Redirect a Refund
If you are filing Form 1040-X to amend a previously filed return, a paper-filed amended return cannot direct-deposit a refund. Any resulting refund comes as a paper check. Filing an amended return also does not let you change the bank information for a refund already being processed on your original return; the two are separate transactions.