In general, I always understood that the client’s tax filing deadline was the date that their IRA and Roth contributions, among others, were due. If a client sent a check that was postmarked on 4/15 or earlier, I understood that we could accept that contribution as having been “timely made”. The same thing with a journal request- if it was put in the mail and postmarked by the 15th, I understood that we could accept and process the journal.

Today, however, I was reading Treasury Regulation, Subchapter F, Sec. 301.7502-1 and am not so sure. First the regulation seems to support my understanding when it states:

[i]…a document or payment is deemed to be filed or paid on the date of the postmark stamped on the envelope or other appropriate wrapper (envelope) in which the document or payment was mailed.[/i]

But then, it gets confusing when it defines a document as:

[i]…any return, claim, statement, or other document filed within a prescribed period or on or before a prescribed date under authority of any provision of the internal revenue laws, except as provided in paragraph (b)(1)(ii), or (iv) of this section.[/i]

Can you provide any insight into the “postmark” and timely filing/contributing issue?

Thanks!