Two American institutions that regularly catch a lot of flak find that they are good partners each April. I'm talking, of course, about the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Postal Service. True, software-assisted return prep and e-filing by individual taxpayers or the tax preparers they hire now is the dominant way we get our 1040s to the IRS every year. Most of the 50 million yet-to-file taxpayers, who are this week's By the Numbers honorees, will use these electronic methods by the end of tomorrow. But until Uncle Sam forces all of us to e-file, some folks will still finish their taxes the old-fashioned way, even if they use software to fill out their forms, and wrap it all up by making a tax-filing trip to their local post office. In some cases, e-file-adverse taxpayers just don't trust the electronic delivery method even though you get an almost immediate acknowledgement after you hit send. Others shy away from sending so much personal and financial information over the Internet, fearing hackers and tax identity theft. And some owe the IRS and like the few days delay that it takes for the IRS to cash their snail mailed checks. Whatever the reason for sending your dead-tree tax documents via snail mail, here are 5 tips to ensure your return meets IRS and USPS requirements. 1. Make sure your post office is open. Such filing festivities, however, are history. That's why you need to check the U.S. Postal Service office locator for the nearest branch and then call it to find out its operating hours on April 15. Also note the time of the last outgoing batch of mail. You want to make sure that your envelope to the IRS bears an April 15 postmark. That will make it timely mailed in the IRS' eyes and protect you from any late-filing penalties and interest. 2. Mail your return first class. That timely postmark won't do you any good if your return can't be delivered because of insufficient postage. It will either be late in arriving at the IRS or, more likely, returned to you, meaning you'll face late-filing penalties. As added insurance against such a possibility, shell out a few more bucks to prove that you mailed your taxes on time. Send your taxes via certified mail, return receipt requested. 3. Put your return address on your envelope. Sure, a return-to-sender tax packet means your filling will be late. But better late than never applies here. If there's no return address (or one that can't be determined thanks to your unreadable scrawl), your 1040 could sit for months (or forever!) in a dead-letter pile, running up tax late charges you didn't even know were accumulating. 4. Send your return to the correct IRS office. Your tax return won't have to be shuffled around, meaning the IRS can do its primary filing season job of moving returns through the system. And if you're expecting a refund, and yes, some late-season filers do get money back, sending it to the correct office will help you get that tax cash sooner. So before you start addressing that envelope, check the IRS' interactive list of states to find where to send your 1040. 5. Be patient. Whatever the reason, if you have to wait to mail your taxes, take a deep breath and deal with it graciously. At least you're in the final stretch of filing your return. You also might find these items of interest:
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