Send Tax Documents Correctly to Avoid IRS Trouble
If you must file a physical document with the IRS, don’t use regular U.S. mail, Priority Mail, or Express Mail.
Have you heard the horror stories about mail sent to the IRS that remains unanswered for months…even years? Reportedly, the IRS has mountains of unanswered mail pieces in storage trailers, waiting for IRS employees to process them. We’ve also read many news reports of the agency destroying millions of pieces of mail simply because they cannot get to it.
Because the understaffed IRS is having so much trouble processing all the documents it receives, you must protect yourself when you send an important tax filing due by a specific deadline.
If you can file a document electronically, do so. The IRS deems such filings as filed on the date of the electronic postmark.
If you must file a physical document with the IRS, don’t use regular U.S. mail, Priority Mail, or Express Mail (all services of the USPS).
Why not?
When you mail a document with these methods, the IRS considers it filed on the postmark date, but only if the IRS receives it. What if the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t deliver it or the IRS loses it? You’ll have no way to prove the IRS got it — the IRS and most tax courts won’t accept your verbal testimony that it was timely mailed.
Don’t take this chance. Instead, file physical documents by certified or registered U.S. mail, or use an IRS-approved Private Delivery Service (generally, two-day or better service from FedEx, UPS, or DHL Express). When you do this, the tracking data covers you and the IRS considers the document filed on the postmarked date whether or not the IRS has record of receiving it.
What is “certified” or “registered” U.S. Mail?
Certified Mail provides the sender with a mailing receipt and electronic verification that an article was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made. Learn more here.
Registered Mail has multiple options. Learn more here.
What is an “IRS-approved Private Delivery Service (PDS)”?
PDS means using a shipping service that the IRS has approved specifically offered by the following 3 non-government shipping services (see the official list here):
DHL Express
FedEx
UPS
The IRS provides special mailing addresses if you use a PDS. Find those special addresses here.
Make sure to keep your receipt.
Final Tips
Make sure to keep your shipping receipts and tracking information. You’ll need it in the event the IRS claims they never received it.
It might also be a good idea to snap some pictures or take videos of the documents you are mailing alongside the envelope you are using. Never hurts to have too much evidence on your side when dealing with the IRS!
