Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act
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Would extend the federal tax 'mailbox rule' — which currently treats the postmark date of a mailed document as its delivery date — to electronically submitted tax filings and payments, so that the date a taxpayer sends an electronic submission is treated as the date of delivery, regardless of when the IRS receives it.
The change would give electronic filers the same timing protection that paper filers have enjoyed for decades, and would require the IRS to issue implementing guidance by the end of 2025.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would amend Section 7502(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to apply the so-called "mailbox rule" to electronically submitted federal tax documents and payments. Under that rule, a tax filing or payment is considered delivered on the date it is sent — not the date the IRS receives or reviews it. Currently, the mailbox rule applies to paper documents sent by mail, using the postmark date. This bill would extend that same protection to electronic submissions, deeming the date the taxpayer sends the document or payment electronically as the official delivery or payment date.
The bill would also require the IRS to issue regulations or other guidance on electronically submitted payments — an area where the agency currently lacks explicit authority — no later than December 31, 2025. The new rule would apply to any document or payment sent electronically after December 31, 2025.
Key provisions
- 1Would deem the date a taxpayer electronically sends a tax document or payment to be the official date of delivery or payment, regardless of when the IRS receives or reviews it.
- 2Would require the IRS Secretary to issue implementing regulations or other guidance on electronically submitted payments no later than December 31, 2025.
- 3Would apply the new electronic mailbox rule to all documents and payments sent electronically after December 31, 2025.
Who would be affected
Individual taxpayers, businesses, and tax professionals who file returns, claims, statements, or other documents, or make tax payments, electronically to the IRS. The IRS itself would be required to issue new guidance on electronic payments. Tax software providers and authorized electronic return transmitters would also be affected by the updated rules.
Why it matters
Under current IRS guidance, the electronic postmark is set when a transmitter's system receives the filing — not when the taxpayer sends it — which can expose electronic filers to timeliness disputes that paper filers avoid through the postmark rule. This bill would close that gap, giving the tens of millions of taxpayers who file electronically a clear, consistent rule: send-date equals delivery date.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 7502(c) (Sec. 2(a))
Adds a new paragraph extending the mailbox rule to electronically sent tax documents and payments, treating the send date as the delivery date; also adds payment guidance authority.
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- New electronic mailbox rule applies to documents and payments sent after this date
- IRS must issue implementing regulations or guidance by this date
Funding and costs
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1152 would reduce federal revenues by an insignificant amount (less than $500,000) over the 2025–2035 period and would have no significant effect on the federal budget.
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that H.R. 1152 would reduce revenues by an insignificant amount — less than $500,000 — over the 2025–2035 period. CBO and JCT find that the bill would have no effect on direct spending (mandatory expenditures), and CBO estimates that IRS administrative costs to implement the bill would be less than $500,000 annually, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. JCT determined that the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
How implementation would work
The bill directs the IRS Secretary to issue regulations or other guidance by December 31, 2025, to implement the new electronic mailbox rule, with particular focus on electronically submitted payments (an area the agency previously lacked explicit authority to address). The new rule takes effect for documents and payments sent after December 31, 2025, giving the agency a clear deadline to have guidance in place before the rule becomes operative. No new agency, grant program, or ongoing reporting requirement is created.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
This bill provides that a federal tax document or payment that is electronically submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) shall be considered delivered to the IRS on the date such document or payment is sent. Further, the bill requires the IRS to issue guidance on electronically submitted federal tax documents and payments no later than December 31, 2025.
Under current law, a federal tax document or payment that is sent by mail is considered delivered to the IRS on the date that such document or payment is postmarked and is considered timely if the postmark date is on or before the due date of such document or payment. (This is known as the mailbox rule.)
Further, under current law, the IRS is authorized to provide guidance on electronically submitted federal tax documents but not payments. In accordance with such authority, IRS guidance provides that the date that an authorized electronic return transmitter receives the transmission of an electronically filed document on its host system is the electronic postmark date.
The bill expands the mailbox rule to include all electronically submitted federal tax documents and payments and specifically requires the IRS to provide guidance on electronically submitted payments.
Legislative subjects
Internet, web applications, social media; Tax administration and collection, taxpayers; Taxation
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-45