IRS "Priority" Mail

[RAG1775]

FEDUKE404 stated "As for putting much credence in a certified mail receipt, for all intents and purposes that just means it got to the ADDRESS which for something like the IRS could be nothing more than a specialized mail facility, or at best a very large mail room."

While the above may be true, Section 7502 treats certified mail as "filed" on the date postmarked:

If the document or payment is sent by U.S. certified mail and the sender's receipt is postmarked by the postal employee to whom the document or payment is presented, the date of the U.S. postmark on the receipt is treated as the postmark date of the document or payment. Accordingly, the risk that the document or payment will not be postmarked on the day that it is deposited in the mail may be eliminated by the use of registered or certified mail.

[RAG1775]

No confusion. Just stating the benefit of certified mail regardless of whether it was "received".

[New York Enrolled Agent]

While the above may be true, Section 7502 treats certified mail as "filed" on the date postmarked:

RAG - I don't believe that this assertion is correct. The content you have in bold is from the regulations for section 7502 and I don't see where you derive your conclusion. Certified mail will, without doubt, establish the day of postmark but not necessarily the day of filing.

As an example, a taxpayer mails their 2024 return using certified mail postmarked on August 7 and the IRS Service Center receives it on August 11. What is the day the return is considered filed? The Courts tell us it is August 11.

In Walden, 90 TC 947 (1988), the Court writes: In general, section 6501(a) imposes a 3-year limitation on the assessment of tax, beginning with the date the return was filed. Although section 6501 does not define the word "filed," this and other courts have held that, for purposes of determining the commencement of the period of limitations for assessment of tax, "filed" is synonymous with delivery to, and receipt by, the IRS.

The day the IRS receives the return is the day filed with two exceptions.

Exception #1 - early filing - section 6501(b)(1) provides any return received before the day proscribed by law is considered filed on such day which section 6072 tells us is April 15 for calendar year taxpayers.

Exception #2 - timely mailing treated as timely filing - section 7502 does NOT say the postmark is simply the day of filing. Section 7502 requires TWO components, the first being the return was mailed on or before the proscribed date (the due date) and secondly, the return was received after the due date. If both of those conditions are met, then the postmark date is deemed the delivery date.

You don't need certified mail for purposes of section 7502. Any legible USPS postmark will do the trick - but certified mail gives evidence of such postmark which might not be the case with other mailings. That's why certified mail is often suggested.

[RAG1775]

HHHMMMM.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with this interpretation of the regulations and certified mail as being specifically noted.
The link is a good reading on this matter.

https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/blog/2023/9/23/taxpayer-cannot-use-common-law-mailbox-rule-to-prove-timely-filing-of-a-refund-claim