For generations, the U.S. Postal Service has been associated with the famous line that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” will stop the mail. But beginning December 24, 2025, the real obstacle for taxpayers may not be the weather—it may be when the envelope actually gets stamped.
Recent changes adopted by the United States Postal Service affect how the familiar “timely mailed, timely filed” rule under I.R.C. § 7502 works in practice. Under that rule, a return or payment is timely if it is mailed by the deadline and bears a timely postmark—even if it reaches the IRS later.
Under the Postal Service’s new Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) initiative, mail is consolidated onto a single transportation route rather than being collected multiple times per day. In many ZIP Codes—especially where the processing unit is more than 50 miles away—mail may arrive at a post office one day and not receive a postmark until the next.
In real terms, a return dropped in the mail on April 15 may not be postmarked until April 16. Your envelope made it on time. The stamp did not.
Because the postmark still controls under § 7502, this delay can expose taxpayers to late-filing or late-payment penalties and interest—through no fault of their own.
What should taxpayers do?
To protect the filing date, taxpayers should:
- use certified or registered mail and keep the receipt,
- request a PVI label, or
- ask a postal employee for a hand-stamped postmark at the time of mailing.
These steps create clear proof of timely acceptance and prevent your return from becoming the victim of a very slow-moving stamp.
And whenever possible, taxpayers should consider filing electronically and saving the electronic confirmation (or a screenshot) to document timely filing.
Neither snow nor rain may stop the mail—but under the new system, a delayed postmark can still stop you from meeting your tax filing deadline.
We regularly assist taxpayers who have been assessed penalties or interest for alleged late filing or late payment. If you have received an IRS notice and are unsure how to proceed, please contact a member of our team listed below.
