U.S. Government Phasing Out Tax Refund Checks

If you are one of the people who receive your tax refunds in the form of check, you may get a letter offering you the option of signing up for a prepaid Visa debit card.

The government recently launched a pilot program to test a card called the MyAccountCard from Bonneville Bank.

The government wants to phase out paper checks for several reasons:

1. It saves the government the cost of mailing the checks.

2. Taxpayers without checking accounts can get faster access to their refund, and without check-cashing fees.

3. It will eliminate the issue of lost or stolen checks.

The letters will randomly offer different people cards with different benefits and fee structures to see what additional features prove popular - such as ATM withdrawals, etc.