WASHINGTON — Owe the tax man more than $100 million? Your check is no good at the IRS.

Starting next year, the IRS says it will reject all checks for more than $99,999,999. That’s 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.

Apparently, people sending huge checks to the federal government is a growing problem. The Treasury Department says 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.” The IRS didn’t reveal who actually writes a check for $100 million, whether they were individuals or businesses.