SACRAMENTO — With more people filing income tax returns online, the Sacramento Postal District has scaled back the number of Post Offices that will offer extended hours. Four strategic locations in Sacramento, Fresno, Stockton, and Redding will have extended retail or collection hours and curbside pickup. As in past tax seasons, however, USPS will provide customers with both timely tax return drop offs and special services, including Express Mail, Priority Mail, First-Class Mail, Certificate of Mailing, Certified Mail, and Return Receipt.

Express Mail Service
This gets your tax return to many locations the next day guaranteed or your money-back. Express Mail includes online tracking and signature at delivery.

Priority Mail Service
This gets your tax return delivered in an average of 2-3 days. Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation service provides a receipt of mailing for record-keeping purposes and allows the customer to confirm electronically via the web at usps.com, or through a toll-free number, 1-800-222-1811, that the mailing was delivered to the IRS.

First-Class Mail Service
Efficient, economical option for mailing your return with the all-important postmark.

Proof of Mailing Services:
These services provide you with peace of mind. You can prove you mailed your tax return, verify that it was delivered or both.

Certificate of Mailing
This receipt shows evidence that you mailed your tax return.

Certified Mail
This receipt proves that you mailed your tax return and gives you online access to verify the date and time of delivery.

Return Receipt
This receipt verifies both mailing and delivery, returning a postcard to you signed by the person who received your package.

Online Services:
These services let you use the online technology to help you mail your tax returns

Click-N-Ship
From any computer with internet access and a printer, you can print Priority Mail and Express Mail labels for all your tax returns, with or without postage, and save yourself precious time.

Mailing Tips:

• Affix sufficient postage (the IRS and FTB will not pay postage due). One ounce is 46 cents. The second ounce is an additional 20 cents.
• Address the envelope clearly and correctly, including return address, and use correct ZIP Code, if not using pre-addressed envelopes provided by the IRS
• If mailing in a collection box, deposit your mail prior to the last scheduled pickup time.

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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