Who still files income tax via snail mail?

[d.davis]

TurboTax during the working years of high income, paper returns once both retired. Used to use EFTPS quarterly but that form to determine if you owe a penalty took longer than the rest of the package.
Thanks to this site, we now do our Roth conversion in January and then do a single taxable withdrawal in early December with 99% tax withholding so that when I do our return they owe us around 10 dollars and I don't have to do the under withholding penalty form.

 

[rodi]

Is that because you mail in a check with your return? We always e-file, and schedule any payment to occur on 4/15 if we owe anything no matter how much earlier we’ve e-filed.

I don't actually have the pay electronically set up. I take quarterly withdrawals from my inherited IRA and have enough taxes taken out by Schwab to cover our entire household tax burden. I suppose I could setup to make electronic payments, but what I have is working.

The other issue is that if I get grumpy when I owe. So I want to share the pain with the IRS and make them go through the hassle of processing a paper return. Petty and childish, that's me. LOL.

 

[mystang52]

For this most recent filing I filed paper with my State, NJ. No tax due, or refund.

 

[rodi]

You can use Direct Pay. I've found that mail service in t... mailbox... so I avoid that specific mailbox.

 

[braumeister]

reports of a mail going missing from a specific mailbox... so I avoid that specific mailbox.

Just FYI, I have read that some mailbox keys (keys to the big blue deposit boxes on sidewalks) will open as many as a dozen different boxes in an area. So if someone can steal a key (happens all the time) they have access to quite a few of them.

 

[Morgan22]

The free CA e-filing program only works for very basic returns. Our fed return has Sched B, Sched E, a Roth Conversion, and the HSA deduction, any one of which means the CA return can't be done with CalFile.

I print out our CA return and walk over to the Post Office to mail it via regular first class mail, not certified. I pay the tax due online, so even if the paper return doesn't get there, the only cost will be some more postage to send another copy, but so far it's always made it.

This year we don't have to file until Oct 16, so I'm in no rush. I'll file for the Fed refund this week and schedule the state payment for Oct. The paperwork will just get mailed next time I'm heading over to the PO for something else.

Thank you for the details of the limitations. That's a bummer, I was thinking of trying it out next year to skip the $20 e-file fee.

 

[scrabbler1]

Hijack - I'm in San Diego also and haven't had any issue with postal service. If it's something I want to be 100% certain gets mailed and I don't want to stand in line, I'll run into the post office and put it in the mail slot inside their office. I have never had an issue with stuff mailed from a mailbox but nextdoor (that bastion of advice/complaints, good and bad) has some reports of a mail going missing from a specific mailbox... so I avoid that specific mailbox.

I always mail tax returns from inside the post office. Several of the 8 returns I prepare (2 for me, 6 for 3 other people) require extra postage, so there's a good chance I will already be in the PO already to mail one of those. For those, I have a receipt for the extra postage; not an official proof of mailing, but pretty good nonetheless.

 

[cathy63]

Thank you for the details of the limitations. That's a bummer, I was thinking of trying it out next year to skip the $20 e-file fee.

I had a typo in the original list, it's Fed Schedule D, not Schedule B, that makes a return ineligible for CalFile.

 

[ncbill]

State personal income taxes by mail since all the tax softwares charge a hefty fee to e-file.

In the past all the trust/estate returns I prepared went by snail mail as well, federal & state...e-file option was too expensive.

 

[jazz4cash]

For one you need at least certified (proof if lost) and you stand in line at the Post Office for that. Maybe 15 minutes?

I efile but when I need tracking for USPS, I use Priority Mail which has free tracking. I have an account and print labels at home. I can give it to my carrier or use any mailbox.

 

[Markola]

That’s the one. I pity the interns in that place!

 

[RobbieB]

Interns? I see only 1 poor guy in the back...

 

[O2Bfree]

Reminds me of the closing scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark!

 

[athena53]

Just FYI, I have read that some mailbox keys (keys to the big blue deposit boxes on sidewalks) will open as many as a dozen different boxes in an area. So if someone can steal a key (happens all the time) they have access to quite a few of them.

It's worse than that. In my area thieves "go fishing" at night in the big blue boxes with a string and something at the end that will hook or snag envelopes. Any checks they get will be "washed" and made out to someone else for a different amount, or the routing and account detail stolen. Mail with nothing interesting, I suppose, gets thrown out. I never use those boxes- I go inside.

I've had the same experience as Cathy63 with the "free" e-file programs- I think I get kicked out because of my investments even though they're not anything exotic.

And... my wonderful state just sent me a letter asking for copies of the cancelled checks for my installment payments. I got on Fidelity and found the images but now I need to print them out and send them to the state. They didn't even give me a return envelope. Not sure how I could have circumvented that problem when I e-filed- no way to include attachments.

 

[O2Bfree]

It's worse than that. In my area thieves "go fishing" at night in the big blue boxes with a string and something at the end that will hook or snag envelopes. Any checks they get will be "washed" and made out to someone else for a different amount, or the routing and account detail stolen. Mail with nothing interesting, I suppose, gets thrown out. I never use those boxes- I go inside.

The blue mail boxes at the post office near me have been broken into a couple times, so I alway drop mail in the slot inside.

I've also seen these particular boxes get so stuffed with mail that you could actually reach into the slot and pull letters out. Why people would continue to stuff letters in there is beyond me. Maybe they think the boxes are somehow magically protected by the government?

 

[Markola]

Interns? I see only 1 poor guy in the back...

That’s what a freshman looks like after a summer in that room.

 

[foxfirev5]

For the first time in around 20 years, I was due a federal refund for 2021, and a rather large one ($745), because the actual ACA premium subsidy greatly exceeded what I got, some of it due to the ARP. To better monitor the very slow progress of getting the refund, I set up an IRS account. I filed on paper in February 2022 but didn't get the refund (direct-deposited) until July, with a few bucks in interest.

When I file my 2022 return later this month, owing again, I will use the account I set up (like what you did) to make the payment when I mail out my paper return. I never tried this before, but I assume it is easier than making the payment via DirectPay because a payment using my IRS account will already have my personal information in it, not that DirectPay was difficult. Is there anything you can tell me in advance I should watch out for?

Using my IRS account has been simple and I see the payment listed for this year as well as prior payments. I do see both Direct Pay and IRS account payments for prior years. So I guess it doesn't really matter .No issues so far either way.

 

[Koolau]

Had to file my State Business Income tax by mail. My state wouldn't let me e-file that for some reason.

I had to file in my old state because of the family business (now sold.) They too did not have e-file. But I always had to pay, so I didn't much care if it took a while for them to review my return. Never had a problem with it. Now that I'm no longer filing, I hope they don't "miss" me and wonder why I'm not filing. We did tell the state that the business no longer exists, so hope that is all they need.

 

[braumeister]

I've also seen these particular boxes get so stuffed with mail that you could actually reach into the slot and pull letters out. Why people would continue to stuff letters in there is beyond me. Maybe they think the boxes are somehow magically protected by the government?

That has always been common in my area in December. They get stuffed full with greeting cards, to the point that if you go to one first thing in the morning, the overflow is on the ground because people just had to get their cards "in the mail".

 

[Winemaker]

I always owe to Feds and state. They have guards at post office to escort my returns so they can cash my check ASAP.

 

[Koolau]

I always owe to Feds and state. They have guards at post office to escort my returns so they can cash my check ASAP.

Right, back in the day, when we filed on the last night, USPS uniformed folks waited on a circle close to the mail boxes and took envelopes from folks in cars and put them in those handy, dandy plastic bins. One guy trudged into the building with a couple of the boxes while other boxes were being filled up. It was kind of a ritual until e-file took away all the "fun."

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah I remember nightly news showing a line of cars around the block.

 

[Car-Guy]

The IRS received my paper return 21 days ago yesterday (according to my USPS tracking receipt) I just checked and my refund was approved yesterday. Deposit to my checking account is scheduled for next week.

I'll be getting cheese on my hamburgers for months now.

 

[fh2000]

I efiled my Fed tax today. IRS rejected it twice, until I got a new PIN from ID.me.

I mailed my CA state tax since TT charges $27. Certified mail cost me $6.80 still much cheaper than paying TT.

 

[RobbieB]

And how long did you wait at the Post Office?