CP237A Notice: Your Business Refund Check Expired, and You Must Call the IRS

What a CP237A says

The IRS CP237A page puts the whole message in one line: “Call us to request your refund check.” The IRM title says more: “Please Contact us to Request a Replacement Check for the Check that Expired.”

IRM 21.4.2.4.7.2 pairs CP237 and CP237A with CP32 and CP32A. The page’s own tip points to Form 8822-B, the business change of address form, and the IRM marks the CP237 notice as BMF, the IRS’s business master file. So treat this as the business version of the notice.

The check expired, but the credit went back to your IRS account.

Why you have to call

Checks do not last forever. IRM 21.4.2.4.7 says a refund check stops being negotiable “on the last business day of the 12th month from the issue date.” After that, Treasury cancels it and the money returns to your account.

What happens next depends on the amount. IRM 21.4.2.4.7.2 says smaller credits release on their own, with a CP237 to say so. Larger credits generate a CP237A and a freeze on the refund. The IRM does not publish the dollar line.

That is why this notice needs you. IRM 21.4.2.4.7.2 says taxpayers “must contact the IRS” before it releases the refund.

What to do now

Call 800-829-0115. Have the notice in front of you and ask for a replacement check. If you still have the expired check, the page says to destroy it. Do not try to deposit it.

IRM 21.4.2.4.7.2 adds that a taxpayer can “respond by phone or mail” before the IRS reissues the refund. The IRS page names only the phone, so call first and keep mail as a backup. Our guide to reaching the IRS can help if the line stays busy.

The page says, “You should receive the replacement check within 30 days.” When it arrives, cash it. The page reminds you to do that, because the same thing can happen again.

Fix the address before you call

You cannot fix an old address by telling the IRS to mail the check somewhere else. The page says the IRS mails refund checks “only to the address of record.”

The page defines that address: the one on the tax return, or the result of “a permanent address change request” you submit after you file. If the business moved, file Form 8822-B so the record matches. Then ask for the check.

What people mistake a CP237A for

Many owners read any IRS mail as a bill and set it aside. This notice asks for nothing but a phone call. Waiting only delays it.

Others assume a new check is on the way. That is true of a CP237, which IRM 21.4.2.4.7.2 says goes out when the IRS reissues the refund on its own. After a CP237A, nothing moves until you act.

Individuals get the same pair of notices under different numbers. If the notice names you and not your business, read our CP32 and CP32A page.

For tax professionals

Under IRM 21.4.2.4.7.2, “LP Cancel transcripts are identical to CP 32A or CP 237A,” and the freeze is an S- freeze. If the client wants the refund and the account has no open control, IRM 21.4.2.4.10 has staff release the credit, by command code or by manual refund.

Limited payability does not cover direct deposits. IRM 21.4.2.4.7 notes that those procedures “do not apply to direct deposit refund cases.”

If the client says someone cashed the check and they never saw the money, that is a different path. IRM 21.4.2.4.11 covers disputes and possible forgery.

Common Questions