Depending on where you live, relying on a postmark to prove you mailed your tax return, mail-in ballot, bill payment or any other time-sensitive document by a specific date may no longer work as you expect.
As the U.S. Postal Service continues implementing operational changes in an effort to shore up its finances and modernize its infrastructure, the agency expects an increase in delays between when you mail something and when it is postmarked, according to a public notice in the Federal Register that took effect Dec. 24. A postmark shows the date your mail was processed, and historically has been applied the same day you mail an item.
However, due to limiting pickups at many postal locations and mail now often traveling farther to regional processing centers where the postmark is applied, “the postmark date does not inherently or necessarily align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of the mailpiece,” the notice reads.
While households increasingly use digital options to file taxes, pay bills and handle other personal business, there are still people who use the Postal Service for time-sensitive mail.
Of the 163.6 million tax returns received by the IRS this year, about 10 million were not filed electronically, according to the agency’s latest data. About 29% of voters mailed in their ballots last year, according to USAFacts. And 13% of households paid their bills by mail last year, according to the Postal Service’s 2024 Household Diary Study.
