All Postal Service Retail Units must submit foreign issued (exchanged) International Reply Coupons (IRCs) accepted through December 31, 2024, to the Kansas City Stamp Fulfillment Service (SFS) as follows:
n Foreign issued IRC (pictured below) with expiration date of December 31, 2025, is the only version of IRC that will be accepted by SFS.
n SFS will begin accepting exchanged IRCs starting on January 1, 2025. Postal Service Retail Units must submit IRCs on or before January 31, 2025.
n Redemption rates for all foreign issued exchanged IRCs with an expiration date of December 31, 2025, are based on the round date stamp (on the right-hand side of the coupon) and are acceptable for return to the SFS (see table).
n Do not send in any IRCs with an expiration date of December 31, 2021, or earlier to SFS for any reason.
n Check expiration dates are printed on the back of the IRCs.
n If you have IRCs with an expiration date on or before December 31, 2021, that were not returned as instructed in past Postal Bulletin articles, you must remove the IRCs from the unit inventory, destroyed locally (no value), and posted as a shortage (AIC 767) to the unit reserve stock inventory. (RSS units must enter a count in the “Count Inventory and Cash” workflow; select “Close Credit/Transfer to Another Employee.”) SDA units will use AIC 622 to post the shortage.
n Unit reserve custodians may submit a claim for loss via the eIWS Online Forms (OLF) application following procedures in Handbook F-101, Field Accounting Procedures, sub-chapter 8-7, Claim for Loss. When you receive an approved claim for loss, clear the stamp credit shortage AIC 367 (SDA units will use AIC 222) and offset to AIC 633, Claim for Loss; use Reason Code 10, Uncollectible Employee Items.
n Bind exchanged foreign-issued IRCs in bundles of 100 or less.
n Prepare PS Form 17, Stamp Requisition/Stamp Return (May 2007), in triplicate and annotate “IRC Return.”
n Include a shipment number on the PS Form 17 or the shipment will be returned to the originating unit. Include the SFS Destruction finance number (receiving unit location ID).
n Submit the original and one copy of the PS Form 17 enclosed with the stock. File the second copy with supporting documentation locally.
n Use only one PS Form 17 for all your IRCs. You do not need to attach the PS Form 17 to the outside of the return. The office should write “IRC” on the outside of the return package.
n Ship Priority Signature confirmation service to:
Kansas City SFS (289995-0000)
KANSAS CITY SFS
STAMP FULFILLMENT SERVICES
IRC RETURN
8300 NE UNDERGROUND DRIVE, PILLAR 225
KANSAS CITY, MO 64162-9998
Note: Migratory Bird Stamps or any other stock will not be accepted at this time, and will only be accepted during your regular destruction schedule. You must send IRCs separately.
n SFS will be responsible for the consolidating and batching of the IRCs from the PRUs. SFS will send an email notice of the IRCs to be exchanged to the St. Louis ASC International Accounting Branch by February 28 of each calendar year.
n SFS will send an email notice of the IRCs to the International Accounting Management Team at the following email address: IAMgmt@usps.gov. The notice will provide the quantity of IRCs to be exchanged and the number of boxes to be returned to the UPU International Bureau. SFS will be responsible for the shipment of the exchanged IRCs to the UPU International Bureau.
n Once the completed IRC Cover Letter, CN 03 form and the Shipping Information packing list is received from the St. Louis ASC International Accounting Branch, SFS will prepare the IRCs to be exchanged for shipment.
n SFS will ship the IRCs via Priority Mail Express International® with the Customs Declaration, PS Form 2976-B, Priority Mail Express International Shipping, and PS Form 2865, Return Receipt for International Mail.
n The International Reply Coupons will be returned in accordance with the Regulations to the Convention Final Protocol Manual, International Reply Coupons, currently Final Protocol - cep_plen-2_do12; Published in English 18.11.2021, 17.29; Article 18-106.
n SFS will ship the IRCs to the following address:
UPU INTERNATIONAL BUREAU
INTERNATIONAL REPLY COUPONS
PO BOX 312
CH 3000 BERNE 15
SWITZERLAND
n The Cover Letter, CN 03 in duplicate and the Shipping Information packing list will be enclosed in box labeled as Box 1 of X.
n The return address for this shipment will be the following:
INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING BRANCH
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
PO BOX 80408
SAINT LOUIS, MO 63180-0408
USA
n SFS must use the (CNS) G-10 application to generate shipping label.
The St. Louis ASC International Accounting Branch will prepare the following forms and return the completed forms to SFS via email to the following email address: mailto:SFS_OPERATIONS@usps.gov.
n IRC Cover Letter, signed by the Manager, International Accounting Branch
n CN 03 form completed with the quantity of IRCs to be returned, signed by the Manager, International Accounting Branch. The value of the reply coupon is provided in the Regulations to the Convention Final Protocol Manual, International Reply Coupons, currently Final Protocol - cep_plen-2_do12; Published in English 18.11.2021, 17.29; Article 18-106.
n A completed shipping Information packing list that provides the IRC quantity and the number of boxes to be returned.
When the St. Louis ASC IAB receives the returned CN 03 form from the UPU International Bureau, the document is given to the settlement group leader. The settlement group leader will look for the payment to be reported as received as international funds from Switzerland on the Cash Position Report emailed from Corporate Treasury. Once the funds have been identified, the St. Louis ASC IAB will create a manual invoice.
After the St. Louis ASC IAB creates the manual invoice (in accordance with IAB procedures), the settlement group leader will clear the receipt.
For more information, see Handbook F-101, Field Accounting Procedures, which is available on the Postal Service™ PolicyNet website:
n Go to blue.usps.gov.
n In the left-hand column, click Essential Links, and then click PolicyNet.
n Go to the right-hand side under “Published Forms and Directives.”
n Click Handbooks.
The direct URL for Handbook F-101 is blue.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/hand/f101.pdf.
— Revenue and Field Accounting, 1-9-25
