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was not postmarked. See Denman v. Commissioner, 35 T.C. 1140,
1144 (1961); Peterson v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2001-11; Brown
v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1982-165. In this circumstance,
petitioners cannot avail themselves of the safe harbor provided
by the use of certified mail.
Section 7502(a) provides that if the envelope or wrapper
containing the petition bears a timely postmark made by the U.S.
Postal Service, and certain other requirements are met, the
postmark date will be deemed the filing date. However, where the
postmark is not made by the U.S. Postal Service, the timely
mailing/timely filing rule shall apply “only if and to the extent
provided by regulations prescribed by the Secretary.” Sec.
7502(b).
Where the postmark in question is made by a private postage
meter, section 301.7502-1(c)(1)(iii)(B), Proced. & Admin. Regs.,
applies. This regulation provides that privately metered mail
qualifies for the timely mailing rule of section 7502 if the
postmark bears a timely date and the document is received no
4(...continued)
postal employee and returned to the sender at the time of
mailing. Denman v. Commissioner, supra; Brown v. Commissioner,
supra. Certified mail does not have to be processed by a postal
employee prior to mailing. Brown v. Commissioner, supra. If a
sender does not desire to have his receipt postmarked, he can
attach the certified mail sticker to the article to be mailed,
retain the sender’s receipt with whatever entries he wishes to
make on it, and place the article in a postal collection box.
Denman v. Commissioner, supra at 1143; Brown v. Commissioner,
supra.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011