Representative Terri A. Sewell, D-Alabama, ranking member of the Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee, and Representative Danny K. Davis, D-Illinois, ranking member of the Worker and Family Support Subcommittee, said Tuesday they are seeking information for taxpayers whose refunds have been delayed after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did not answer questions on the issue.
In a press release, Sewell said the lawmakers asked for a copy of the notice during a Ways and Means Committee hearing with IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, but Treasury sent them an altered version for reasons that remain unclear.
“By ignoring yesterday’s March 23 deadline to furnish more information, Bessent and the Trump administration are making it clear that they don’t care about the fate of the 1.4 million taxpayers currently affected by these delays—a number that has been growing at a clip of 300,000 taxpayers per week,” the release said.
“During a recent hearing, we requested a copy of the notice, state-by-state data on the notices sent, and an answer as to when the processing clock begins to run for taxpayers who respond to the notice,” Sewell and Davis wrote to Bessent. “However, we only received an altered version of the notice cleared by the Department of the Treasury. The altered version is different from both the actual version sent to taxpayers and the version we obtained from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. We are troubled by the differences.”
The lawmakers said they are especially concerned that taxpayers could wait 10 weeks for paper refunds.
“Our first and foremost concern is that taxpayers could face a 10-week wait for their paper refunds,” they wrote. “This is not clearly stated on the notice. Nor does it warn taxpayers that a paper check could take another six weeks beyond the 30 days given to respond.”
They also said the IRS has no public process for taxpayers without online accounts to request timely checks.
“The IRS telephone number provided in the notice does not connect to a live assistor,” Sewell and Davis wrote. “Instead, an automated recording notifies callers to set up an IRS online account. By listing a telephone number, the notice gives taxpayers a false impression that they have the option to request their refunds by phone.”
The lawmakers also outlined what they described as discrepancies between the notice sent to taxpayers and the altered version Treasury provided to Congress.
Sewell’s press release said Treasury has until April 6, 2026, to provide additional information.
In March 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14247 requiring electronic payment of tax refunds. Last year, the National Taxpayer Advocate reported that more than 10 million individual taxpayers received refunds by paper check and may be unbanked, have impairments or face systemic or geographic barriers that make it difficult to provide electronic deposit information.
As a result, more than 1.4 million taxpayers this year have received IRS notices that their refunds are being held and delayed, in some cases by more than two months, because they did not provide required banking information.
