Tax refunds

The other day (Monday, June 13, 2011) our Internal Revenue Service tax-refund arrived.
“Why wasn’t this electronically deposited to our checking-account?” I asked.
“I distinctly remember putting all that information on our 1040.
Did last year too, and we got a check.”
A few weeks ago we got our N.Y. state income-tax refund, also a check, with a note indicating they couldn’t deposit electronically.
Last year we owed them money. They wanted all our bank information, so they could charge our account electronically.
That worked.
“How come they can successfully charge our account electronically, but they can’t deposit to it?
What is it with government?
It’s the same information.”