Taxable Talk

I used to live in Orange County, California. Earlier this week a US Postal Service caught fire as it was heading toward an airport after leaving the Santa Ana mail sorting center. So if you mailed something on Monday, March 3rd from ZIP Codes starting with 926, 927, 928, 906, 917 and 918, it might have been burnt to a crisp. All the mail the truck was carrying was destroyed (an estimated 120,000 pieces). (No one was hurt in the accident.)

If you happen to have mailed a tax payment or tax form hopefully you used certified mail. When your payment doesn’t show up–and you should check to see if the check cleared–tax agencies will normally consider the certified mail receipt as proof of filing. The USPS is offering documentation of the fire (if the news stories aren’t enough).

This is the third incident like this in recent years that I can remember. Back in 2005 a truck carrying payments leaving the San Francisco Post Office Box where IRS payments go made a right turn on the Hayward Bridge (across the San Francisco Bay). There’s a reason why there’s a bridge and you don’t make right turns while on a bridge. Those payments went to the fishes. In 2012, a truck carrying mail to New Jersey government offices went up in flames.

Most likely, this incident will have minimal impact on taxes as it is early in Tax Season. Still, this is a good reminder why if you do mail a tax form or tax payment that you use certified mail, return receipt requested. That way should there be a problem it’s an inconvenience rather than one leading to costly penalties.

Tags: USPS

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2014 at 8:59 pm and is filed under California, IRS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.