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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Cheap Way, Proof of Mailing, IRS, Other Mail
Posted by:
USPS tech smart, helpful
()
Date: February 10, 2022 05:57AM
Posted yesterday evening in national social media forum
https://www.city-data.com/forum/frugal-living/3338195-frugal-way-proof-mailing-irs-other.html including reply(s) there
""" If not relevant to your life, you do not have to read in whole or in part this longer post below including detailed instructions.
Its tax season again, and some people for whatever reason, chooses or has to mail in a paper return, or later an amended return which has to be on paper. So the IRS most often requires a USPS postmark cancellation or certified mail as proof of mailing. Often as heard, IRS ignores doing signing off certified mail due to the high volume. Also USPS tracking or tracking by UPS or FedEx gives some proof of mailing whatever papers you are sending to IRS, but it costs, especially $8-9 with the USPS. And the USPS is not always reliable with their tracking. Saga in point (""" for some readers can skip this saga and go to next paragraph with more helpful info)
- Last year, had to do a paper return. Four days after mailing it with USPS Priority Mail with tracking, my tax return mail piece stopped at a postal facility in the Kansas City metropolitan area 25+ miles from the IRS processing center. So after several days, with my refund return containing my SSN and bank account info, I initiated a missing mail search request. A person from the USPS post office on the same street where the IRS is located called me, doing some search and could not find the return, and offered some phone numbers to call the IRS. Since a relative's return was mailed from the same post office on the same day at the same time to the same address, hers without USPS tracking was processed after 7 weeks by the IRS. I became very concerned and eventually reached a rep at the IRS by phone three weeks later, and they just had processed my return the day before. This year could file electronically, so went that route instead, not trusting the USPS with tracking to the IRS anymore.
Here is a frugal and FREE high tech way to get proof of mailing of your IRS tax return to show it is in possession of the local US Post Office, which did yesterday for an elderly relative who is not techy nor wants to do her tax return that way. You need a smartphone camera or a camera with date and time stamps and high picture resolution so can print detail on full sheets of paper. So three pictures, should be done ** within a minute or two ** (mines was done within the same minute). Can be done in post offices with lobbies open 24 x 7.
- Picture ONE - In US Post Office lobby, put piece of mail in plain envelope with your return address label, IRS address, and stamp(s) for sufficient postage on a flat counter or self service surface.
- Picture TWO - In same lobby, walk the piece of mail, here locally not more than 20 feet, to the inside USPS drop box and take a picture of your hand putting the mail piece in the USPS drop slot built into the wall.
- Picture THREE - Take picture of USPS mail drop slot after deposited mail piece. If your post office is like mine, it has the address of the US Post Office there plus pick up times.
If done with a smartphone camera, you can do a screen print of the date/time stamp of the pictures file names 2022/mm/dd/24hr/mm either on your device or downloaded to the hard drive or your PC/laptop using Windows Explorer showing the subdirectory of the three pictures.
Ingenious and free way to do with any important mail piece, not just with the IRS, where not paid for USPS tracking. Best is that you are not paying for USPS or other tracking. Thinking that the IRS with this sufficient evidence, they use the common sense reasonable standard to say the mail piece containing your tax return or other papers is indeed in possession with the USPS at the time you drop it off. Wonder if can do above pictures on tax day in April at 11:59pm, as you are not getting a hand postmark cancellation at that hour at the vast majority of post offices?
https://www.city-data.com/forum/frugal-living/3338195-frugal-way-proof-mailing-irs-other.html including reply(s) there
""" If not relevant to your life, you do not have to read in whole or in part this longer post below including detailed instructions.
Its tax season again, and some people for whatever reason, chooses or has to mail in a paper return, or later an amended return which has to be on paper. So the IRS most often requires a USPS postmark cancellation or certified mail as proof of mailing. Often as heard, IRS ignores doing signing off certified mail due to the high volume. Also USPS tracking or tracking by UPS or FedEx gives some proof of mailing whatever papers you are sending to IRS, but it costs, especially $8-9 with the USPS. And the USPS is not always reliable with their tracking. Saga in point (""" for some readers can skip this saga and go to next paragraph with more helpful info)
- Last year, had to do a paper return. Four days after mailing it with USPS Priority Mail with tracking, my tax return mail piece stopped at a postal facility in the Kansas City metropolitan area 25+ miles from the IRS processing center. So after several days, with my refund return containing my SSN and bank account info, I initiated a missing mail search request. A person from the USPS post office on the same street where the IRS is located called me, doing some search and could not find the return, and offered some phone numbers to call the IRS. Since a relative's return was mailed from the same post office on the same day at the same time to the same address, hers without USPS tracking was processed after 7 weeks by the IRS. I became very concerned and eventually reached a rep at the IRS by phone three weeks later, and they just had processed my return the day before. This year could file electronically, so went that route instead, not trusting the USPS with tracking to the IRS anymore.
Here is a frugal and FREE high tech way to get proof of mailing of your IRS tax return to show it is in possession of the local US Post Office, which did yesterday for an elderly relative who is not techy nor wants to do her tax return that way. You need a smartphone camera or a camera with date and time stamps and high picture resolution so can print detail on full sheets of paper. So three pictures, should be done ** within a minute or two ** (mines was done within the same minute). Can be done in post offices with lobbies open 24 x 7.
- Picture ONE - In US Post Office lobby, put piece of mail in plain envelope with your return address label, IRS address, and stamp(s) for sufficient postage on a flat counter or self service surface.
- Picture TWO - In same lobby, walk the piece of mail, here locally not more than 20 feet, to the inside USPS drop box and take a picture of your hand putting the mail piece in the USPS drop slot built into the wall.
- Picture THREE - Take picture of USPS mail drop slot after deposited mail piece. If your post office is like mine, it has the address of the US Post Office there plus pick up times.
If done with a smartphone camera, you can do a screen print of the date/time stamp of the pictures file names 2022/mm/dd/24hr/mm either on your device or downloaded to the hard drive or your PC/laptop using Windows Explorer showing the subdirectory of the three pictures.
Ingenious and free way to do with any important mail piece, not just with the IRS, where not paid for USPS tracking. Best is that you are not paying for USPS or other tracking. Thinking that the IRS with this sufficient evidence, they use the common sense reasonable standard to say the mail piece containing your tax return or other papers is indeed in possession with the USPS at the time you drop it off. Wonder if can do above pictures on tax day in April at 11:59pm, as you are not getting a hand postmark cancellation at that hour at the vast majority of post offices?