Starting in 2016, the IRS will no longer accept checks of $100 million or more, according to memos from the IRS and the Treasury Department. Check-processing equipment at Federal Reserve banks can't handle checks for more than $99,999,999.99, and have to be processed by hand, which apparently increases the risk of theft, fraud and errors, reported The Associated Press.
"The large check items may become lost or mis-shipped, stolen, and require special handling procedures by the TGA [Treasury General Account] banks," wrote David Melter, director Over the Counter Division at the Department of Treasury, according to CNN.
Taxpayers with huge IRS bills will have to submit multiple checks for less than $100 million each, or wire payments electronically, as nearly 90 percent of individuals already do, according to the IRS.
Only a few entities actually have to worry about such problems, though - the IRS said only 14 of these nine figure checks were written in 2014. The IRS didn't say whether the checks were from individuals or businesses because of confidentiality laws forbidding disclosure of that information.
The 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes in 2012 had an average tax bill of $56 million, AP notes. To owe the IRS $100 million in taxes, a corporation would have to make some $300 million in taxable profits, and investors who make most of their income from capital gains would have to make about $500 million.
