Where to mail your federal tax return: IRS addresses for Form 1040

Where to mail a federal tax return depends on two things: the state you live in, and whether a check or money order is in the envelope. The table above is copied from the IRS page Where to file addresses for taxpayers and tax professionals filing Form 1040, which the IRS last reviewed or updated on 17 Jul 2026. We read it again on 13 Nov 2026 and compared it with the address chart at the end of the Form 1040 instructions.

Which federal tax return address is yours

• Refund due, or nothing in the envelope but the return. Use the no-payment address for your state: Austin, Kansas City or Ogden. The instructions head this column "Are requesting a refund or are not enclosing a check or money order," so it is also the column for people who pay electronically.
• A check or money order in the envelope. Use the payment address: P.O. Box 1214 in Charlotte for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, and P.O. Box 931000 in Louisville for every other state.
• Living abroad, or using an APO or FPO address. Austin, TX 73301-0215 without a payment, P.O. Box 1303 in Charlotte with one. The same row covers people who file Form 2555 or 4563 and dual-status aliens.
• American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The asterisk in the IRS table sends you to Publication 570, because the rules for the territories differ.

Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma are the easy ones to get wrong. Their returns without a payment go to Austin like Texas, but their payments go to Louisville, not Charlotte.

These are the addresses for returns filed in 2026

The Form 1040 instructions say: "Use these addresses for Form 1040 or 1040-SR filed in 2026. The address for returns filed after 2026 may be different." If you are reading this in 2027 or later, check the date at the top of this page and the date on the IRS page before you address the envelope. We reread the IRS page at the start of each filing season.

Sign the return by hand, in ink

This is the rule that trips up people who prepare a return on a computer and then decide to mail it. The instructions say a Form 1040 "isn't considered a valid return unless you sign it," and for paper returns: "You must handwrite your signature on your return if you file it on paper. Digital, electronic, or typed-font signatures are not valid signatures for Form 1040 or 1040-SR filed on paper." On a joint return both spouses sign, and each signer adds the date and an occupation.

It is also why Certisent does not mail Form 1040. We print what you upload, so the signature on our printout would be a scan. The IRS page on electronic signatures for certain paper forms counts "a scanned or digitized image of a handwritten signature" as an electronic signature, and Form 1040 is not on its list of paper forms that accept one. The signed original has to go in your own envelope.

What goes in the envelope

From the "Assemble Your Return" and "Where Do You File?" sections of the instructions:

• Put schedules and forms behind Form 1040 in the order of the "Attachment Sequence No." printed in the upper-right corner of each one. Supporting statements go last, in the same order.
• Attach Forms W-2 and 2439. Attach Forms W-2G and 1099-R only if tax was withheld.
• Use standard size paper. The instructions warn that cutting the paper may cause processing problems, and say not to attach correspondence or other items unless required.
• If you mail a payment, attach Form 1040-V. The instructions also say not to send cash through the mail.
• Write your complete return address on the envelope.
• Weigh it. "Envelopes without enough postage will be returned to you by the post office," and the instructions say an envelope may need additional postage if it holds more than five pages or is oversized, for example over a quarter inch thick.

Due dates and the postmark rule

For most people a Form 1040 is due on April 15 of the following year. The instructions give April 15, 2026 for 2025 returns and say the due date for a 2026 return "is April 15, 2027, for most people." The IRS page When to file adds that if the 15th falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the due date moves to the next business day, and that Form 4868 gives an automatic 6-month extension of time to file, not of time to pay.

The same page states the mailing rule in one sentence: "Your return is considered filed on time if your envelope is properly addressed, postmarked and deposited in the mail by the due date." The rule comes from 26 U.S.C. 7502, usually called "timely mailing treated as timely filing." So the address on the envelope is part of meeting the deadline.

What a certified mail receipt adds

The regulation under section 7502, 26 CFR 301.7502-1, says that when you send a document by certified mail and the postal employee postmarks your sender's receipt, the date on that receipt is treated as the postmark date. A properly issued, postmarked receipt together with a properly addressed envelope is also prima facie evidence that the document was delivered.

USPS gives the practical side on its page Mailing Your Tax Return: you buy Certified Mail or Registered Mail at a post office retail counter and "get a receipt to prove when you mailed your item," you can ask for a manual postmark at the retail counter, and "Most tax returns are several pages long and weigh more than 1 oz."

At the counter the Certified Mail fee is $5.55 and an electronic return receipt is $2.91, plus postage (USPS Notice 123, price list effective 4 Oct 2026, read 13 Nov 2026). This page describes the rules and is not tax advice.

FedEx, UPS and DHL use a street address

The instructions list the designated private delivery services that count for the timely mailing rule and add: "Only the U.S. Postal Service can deliver to P.O. boxes." Private carriers deliver to the street addresses of the processing centers (IRS page dated 29 Oct 2026):

• Austin: Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center, 3651 S IH35, Austin, TX 78741
• Kansas City: Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center, 333 W. Pershing, Kansas City, MO 64108
• Ogden: Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center, 1973 Rulon White Blvd., Ogden, UT 84201

Pick the center named in your no-payment address. The IRS says returns with and without payments go to the same street address when a private carrier is used, but its Form 1040 page opens with a warning: "If you're mailing a payment with Form 1040-V, Payment Voucher for Individuals, use regular mail. Using private delivery services may delay your payment processing."

After you mail it

The IRS page Where's my refund? (dated 16 Oct 2026) gives the timing for paper: refund status is available 4 weeks after you file a paper return, and a refund on a mailed return typically takes "6 or more weeks from the date we received your mailed return." An e-filed return shows status after 24 hours and typically pays in about 3 weeks. The instructions put it plainly: "If you e-file your return, there is no need to mail it."

Other Form 1040 family forms have their own addresses

The table on this page is for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR only. The IRS state pages under Where to file paper tax returns with or without a payment list a different address for each related form. Texas is a good example of how far they spread:

Four forms, six different ZIP+4 codes. Look up the row for your own state and form on the IRS page before you mail anything other than Form 1040.