How do you dispute the date of Post Marking your Tax payment you mailed it before the 10th but the Tax collectors have the post mark date for the 11th of December costing us a penalty of 250.00 more?

Answer 1

I would ask to see the envelope that you mailed. If you mailed it in a corner mailbox, chances are it won't have that current days postmark. If something is that critical, in the future you may want to take it to the post office and present it to the window clerk and have them round date it in your presence. One should always allow at least 5 business days for mail to move from one destination to another, even if that destination is simply across the street. This is just good business sense.

The law is..the return is considered filed when it has been received by the US government. As the USPS (you can't use Fed Ex or such) is a part of the US Gov't, receipt by them qualifies. The postmark, when you haven't followed the advise provided everywhere and sent it certified mail, is by definition when the USPS received it. Use certified mail, then when you hand it to them you get a postmarked receipt which will always match the one on the envelope. It makes no difference when, or even if the IRS actually ever gets the piece of mail as long as you can show the US Gov't (USPS) did.