Avoid Penalties by Understanding Postmarks

Property tax payments must be received or postmarked by the delinquency date to avoid penalties. If a payment is received after the delinquency date, with no postmark, the payment is considered late and penalties will be imposed, in accordance with State law.

POSTMARKS are imprints on letters, flats, and parcels that show the name of the United States Postal Service (USPS) office that accepted custody of the mail, along with the state, the zip code, and the date of mailing. The postmark is generally applied, either by machine or by hand, with cancellation bars to indicate that the postage cannot be reused.

Taxpayers who send their payments by mail are cautioned that the USPS only postmarks certain mail depending on the type of postage used, and may not postmark mail on the same day deposited by a taxpayer.

POSTAGE THAT IS USUALLY POSTMARKED:

STANDARD POSTAGE STAMPS: Stamps purchased and affixed to mail as evidence of the payment of postage.

POSTAGE THAT IS NOT USUALLY POSTMARKED:

METERED MAIL: Mail on which postage is printed directly on an envelope or label by a postage machine licensed by the USPS. Many private companies use these types of postage machines.

PRE-CANCELED STAMP: Stamps sold through a private vendor, such as stamps.com®.

AUTOMATED POSTAL CENTER (APC) STAMPS: Stamps, with or without a date, purchased from machines located within a USPS lobby.

PERMIT IMPRINT: Pre-sorted mail used by bill pay services, such as online home banking.

If you use these types of postage, the USPS may not postmark your mail.

OTHER OPTIONS:

Purchase and complete a CERTIFICATE OF MAILING from the USPS, which is a receipt that provides evidence of the date that your mail was presented to the USPS for mailing. It can only be purchased at the time of mailing through the USPS. The USPS charges a fee for this service.

Purchase a POSTAGE VALIDATED IMPRINT (PVI) Label from a USPS retail counter or window. The PVI is applied to a piece of mail by personnel at the retail counter or window when postage has been paid to mail that item. The item is retained in USPS custody and is not handed back to the customer. The date printed on the PVI label is the date of mailing.

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