Forms 1120 (corporation return), 1120S (S corporation return), 1065 (partnership return) and 1041 (trust return) are due today.
Generally, tax returns are not considered filed “until the document is delivered and received” by the IRS. United States v Lombardo, 241 U.S. 73, 76 (1916).
However, taxpayers will be credited with timely filing their tax returns if they comply with IRC §7502(a)(1) which states:
If any return, claim, statement, or other document required to be filed, or any payment required to be made, within a prescribed period or on or before a prescribed date under authority of any provision of the internal revenue laws is, after such period or such date, delivered by United States mail to the agency, officer, or office with which such return, claim, statement, or other document is required to be filed, or to which such payment is required to be made, the date of the United States postmark stamped on the cover in which such return, claim, statement, or other document, or payment, is mailed shall be deemed to be the date of delivery or the date of payment, as the case may be. (Emphasis Added)
IRC § 7502(a)(1) is known as the general mailbox rule and it applies to documents bearing USPS postmarks. **
** The regulations under section 7502 have extended the application of the mailbox rule to documents bearing private postage meter postmarks; however, the court cases governing these cases have been inconsistent among the states and we recommend that taxpayers use the general rule (i.e. use of the U.S. mails) to ensure that the mailbox rule applies.
Advice: Be sure to make a copy of the cover of the envelope on which the U.S. postmark is stamped. If the IRS later says it didn’t receive the package or that it lost the envelope in which the return was mailed, you will be able to show them a copy of the stamped envelope to prove your timely filing under the mailbox rule.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Natasha // Jun 23, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Thanks for this posting. First google hit, just the info I wanted – the cite to the code.
2 Ruth // Sep 12, 2011 at 7:45 pm
I was informed in August 2011 by a worker in the IRS tax law department that regarding individual income tax returns, the mailbox rule applied only to the original due date of the return. I had postmarked my return exactly three years late (April 15 three years subsequent to the original due date), expecting to receive the refund due me (the statute of limitations on the refund is three years). Since the return was not received until after April 15, and therefore more than three years after the original due date, my refund was denied. The worker in the tax law department told me the application of the mailbox rule only to the original due date was the reason. When I asked for a citation, she replied that she had often tried to get a citation from the people she goes to for more difficult rulings, but they never provided one — only the information that the mailbox rule did not apply to any due date but that of the original return.
Do you have any further information on this advice?
3 Peter // Sep 13, 2011 at 9:59 am
Ruth,
That doesn’t sound right to me. How much was the refund?
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