“Because many federal and state laws define timely payment based on the Postal Service’s postmark, payments or reports may be considered delinquent if they are mailed too close to a deadline—even if they were, in fact, placed in a mailbox before the deadline date,” an advisory on the comptroller’s website reads.
This includes date-sensitive items sent by Texas residents and businesses, such as:
- Property tax payments
- Individual income tax returns
- Mail-in ballots
- W-2 forms and other tax information sent by Texas employers
- Reports submitted to the state by companies that do business in Texas
To avoid late penalties or items being considered delinquent, the comptroller’s office recommends that Texans mail items early and use online systems, when available, to submit payments or reports. To ensure that mail is postmarked on the day it is sent, customers can also take mail into their local post office and request that the item be hand-stamped for free, according to the USPS.
Customers can also purchase a certificate of mailing, which is similar to a receipt, for official proof of when the postal service first received their item.
The secretary of state’s office, which manages Texas elections, had not released a public advisory regarding the submission of mail-in ballots as of press time.
