This is what I recently read: "Registered, certified. A receipt showing that a return was sent by registered or certified mail is proof that the return was delivered to the place that it was addressed. Returns sent by registered mail are deemed to be postmarked on the date of registration. Returns sent by certified mail are deemed to be postmarked on the date stamped on the receipt, under the timely mailed, timely filed rule. However, if a taxpayer mails a return certified but does not obtain a certified receipt, the postmark on the envelope determines the filing date."
I read that as saying if I attach a USPS certified mail document to my envelope, and I have the tracking number on my receipt, and the date of mailing, I have timely mailed and timely filed my return. Is that not correct? Perhaps the one thing I am leaving out is that I presume the post office will post mark the envelope not long after I stick in the mail slot.
Certificate of Mailing is not one of the methods approved by the IRS to set the date of mailing as proof of filing should the package get lost. You must use one of the approved methods to insure that the date you mail the return will be accepted by the IRS as proof of filing.
I see that USPS offers a Certificate of Mailing, which
proves the date something was mailed. Seems like this
should be sufficient. Any reason NOT to go this route? I
have no idea on cost compared to certified mail and/or
signature required.
Bob Mann
ira smilovitz on
What your quoted text says is as follows:
If you hand a certified letter to a window agent at the post office and s/he stamps your receipt with a date - that is the filing date.
If you drop a certified letter in a postbox but don't get the receipt date-stamped, the postmark on the letter is the filing date. (probably within one day of dropping in box).
What is left unsaid, and most importantly, is that if the certified letter arrives at the IRS without a postmark or with an illegible postmark, the date the IRS receives the letter is the date of filing - unless you can provide a dated receipt showing when the letter was delivered to the post office.
This is what I recently read: "Registered, certified. A receipt showing that a return was sent by registered or certified mail is proof that the return was delivered to the place that it was addressed. Returns sent by registered mail are deemed to be postmarked on the date of registration. Returns sent by certified mail are deemed to be postmarked on the date stamped on the receipt, under the timely mailed, timely filed rule. However, if a taxpayer mails a return certified but does not obtain a certified receipt, the postmark on the envelope determines the filing date."
I read that as saying if I attach a USPS certified mail document to my envelope, and I have the tracking number on my receipt, and the date of mailing, I have timely mailed and timely filed my return. Is that not correct? Perhaps the one thing I am leaving out is that I presume the post office will post mark the envelope not long after I stick in the mail slot.
Certificate of Mailing is not one of the methods approved by the IRS to set the date of mailing as proof of filing should the package get lost. You must use one of the approved methods to insure that the date you mail the return will be accepted by the IRS as proof of filing.
I see that USPS offers a Certificate of Mailing, which
proves the date something was mailed. Seems like this
should be sufficient. Any reason NOT to go this route? I
have no idea on cost compared to certified mail and/or
signature required.