Goodbye Paper Checks: President Trump Overhauls Fed Payments

Getting a paper check for your tax refund could soon become a thing of the past. 

In a pair of executive orders, President Trump overhauled the federal payments system, ordering the elimination of most government-issued paper checks and ordering the centralization of payments in the Department of the Treasury. 

The goal: eliminate fraud and waste. 

In Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account, the President ordered the Department of the Treasury to adopt digital payment methods for federal government payments in lieu of paper checks by September 30, 2025. 

Digital methods include direct deposit, debit/credit card payments, digital wallets, and real-time transfers. There will be limited exceptions for people without access to banking services or electronic systems, national security or law enforcement applications, or other circumstances determined by the Treasury Secretary. 

“It’s basically modernization of equipment and methods,” said the President as reported by MeriTalk. “It’s something that should have been done 25 – 30 years ago.”

According to Payments Dive, Department of the Treasury checks are 16 times more likely to be reported lost or stolen, returned undeliverable, or altered than an electronic funds transfer (EFT).

The order also tasks the Secretary of the Treasury to implement a public awareness campaign to inform Americans about the transition to electronic payments. 

Centralizing Payments

In a second order titled Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, federal agencies are ordered to work with Treasury officials to ensure payments are going to the right recipients. 

The administration writes that the current disbursement process, where Treasury and authorized disbursing offices are allowed to send payments, “leads to expensive, disjointed, and duplicative financial reporting.”

Under the order, agencies are required to provide the Treasury with the information needed to track transactions.

The Trump Administration says the move “promotes operational efficiency… by consolidating and standardizing core Federal financial systems.”

The move toward centralizing payments was in practice long before this executive order. There is a shared services portal set up for Treasury, where agencies are encouraged to select from a marketplace of approved systems and services.