$100M tax bill? Your check is no good

WASHINGTON - No checks, please. Starting next year, your check won't be any good at the IRS - if you're making a tax payment of $100 million or more.

The IRS says it will reject all checks for more than $99,999,999 because check-processing equipment at the nation's Federal Reserve banks can't handle checks that big.

Checks of $100 million or more have to be processed by hand, increasing the risk of theft, fraud and errors, according to a pair of memos from the IRS and the Treasury Department.

As a result, the richest among us will have to wire their tax payments electronically. Or write multiple checks for less than $100 million apiece.

Conservatives have been complaining for years that President Barack Obama is trying to stick it to the rich, regularly proposing to raise their taxes. Now, they say, the Obama administration is making it harder for the super-rich to pay those taxes.

"If Obama really gets mean, he's going to make them bring in pennies or nickels," said anti-tax guru Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, in a bit of tongue-in-cheek hyperbole.

Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union, said: "When our indebted federal government turns down large checks for fear of fraud or mishandling, it's time to revise processing procedures and security rather than inconveniencing or deterring taxpayers."

Apparently, people sending huge checks to the federal government is a growing problem.

The Treasury Department said it has noticed an increase in federal agencies trying to deposit checks of $100 million or more. This year, the IRS accepted 14 checks for more than $99,999,999.

The Federal Reserve says most commercial banks can't process checks with amounts that stretch for more than 10 digits, including cents. The Fed says federal agencies have been prohibited from depositing checks of $100 million or more for years.

Apparently, the IRS didn't get the memo.

The IRS declined to comment even though the tax agency's memo urged officials to spread the word about the check limit "in as many media forms as possible between now and Dec. 31, 2015."