PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A simple change at the U.S. Postal Service could affect your taxes, charitable donations or even ballots.
The USPS has changed how it applies postmarks to mail. In many cases, as of Dec. 24, letters are no longer stamped with the date they are dropped in the mailbox. Instead, they may be postmarked days later, after they reach a regional processing center.
That matters because the IRS uses the postmark date, not the day you mailed it, to decide what tax year a donation or tax document counts toward.
So if you mail a charitable donation on Dec. 31, but the postmark is dated Jan. 2, the IRS could treat that gift as a donation for 2026 — meaning you could lose the tax deduction you expected for 2025.
In addition to mailed tax returns, the new policy could affect bill payments, or other documents with strict deadlines, such as mail-in ballots.
Experts say the safest options are to mail important items early, go inside the post office and ask for a hand-stamped postmark, use certified mail, or donate electronically.