It was mid-June when the IRS told me I would have to send my banking information if I wanted to get my federal income tax return.
For more than 60 years, since I was a graduate student with a summer job as a research assistant, I have filed a tax form with the IRS. We even had to do so for the 30 years we lived in Canada, because my wife was a citizen of the United States. Never once in all those years did I give the IRS my bank’s routing number or my bank account number. I always asked that my tiny refunds be delivered by check.
I think I avoided giving the government this information because of a vague fear that, if the government could put money into my account, it might also be able to take money out without warning, reason or right.
We were expecting a refund on our federal taxes. We were expecting the usual check. Instead we got a letter from the IRS saying we had to provide them with our banking information so they could deposit the funds directly in our account.
Why? Well, in March 2025, the president signed Executive Order 14247. With this order, president Donald Trump made sure all transactions between the federal government and contractors, customers and citizens would occur via electronic funds transfer. The order came into effect in September.
We gave the IRS the information and got our refund.
Obviously, there are advantages to EFT. Transactions occur swiftly; transactions can occur easily across international boundaries; transactions occur safely. Over the past few years, there has been a rising incidence of checks being stolen, washed (ink removed with bleach or acetone) and rewritten for new amounts and new recipients; an electronic transfer is immune to such treatment.
The main danger with the use of EFTs is carelessness in data entry resulting in the wrong amount or wrong bank information. Some sophisticated cyber criminals may be able to redirect EFTs in transit, though.
My fear of the government making withdrawals from my accounts has peaked with the Trump administration. I experienced a delay recently in a cross-border electronic transaction (Canada to the United States) in which the federal government held up my pension payment for 10 days or so. That is worrying.
I wish I did not have to give my bank information to the IRS. To get my refund I had to. I will be keeping the bulk of my money in a different account.
Martin G. Evans is a freelance writer. He writes about managerial and political issues, with contributions to The Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal and elsewhere, and was previously a professor at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and has taught at the London Business School, Harvard School of Public Health and elsewhere.
