IRS Private Delivery Service Addresses for Tax Returns

The IRS private delivery service addresses are three physical submission processing centers, in Austin, Kansas City, and Ogden, and they are the only IRS locations that accept packages sent by FedEx, UPS, or DHL. Which one you use depends on the form you’re filing and where you live or do business. A package sent to any other IRS office, or shipped with a carrier service that isn’t on the approved list, may not be treated as timely filed even if you handed it to the courier on the deadline.¹

The Three PDS Street Addresses

Unlike ordinary USPS mail, which the IRS routes to various P.O. Boxes, private delivery services go to physical street addresses. There are three:

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

One detail worth knowing up front: with USPS, the mailing address often changes depending on whether you’re enclosing a payment. With a private delivery service, that split disappears. Returns with payments and returns without payments go to the same street address.¹

Matching Your Form and State to a Center

The form you’re filing and your geographic location together determine which of the three centers receives your package. The IRS publishes the routing in each form’s instructions under “Where To File,” and maintains an online directory organized by form number.²

Individual Returns

For Form 1040 and 1040-SR, your state of residence controls. The IRS groups states into regions and assigns each region to one of the three centers. Publication 3891 has the current state-by-state breakdown for the filing year.³

Business Returns

Corporate returns on Form 1120 and partnership returns on Form 1065 route based on where the business is located and, in some cases, total assets. A partnership with its principal office in the eastern half of the country and less than $10 million in assets might file with Kansas City, while a partnership anywhere in the western half files with Ogden regardless of asset size.⁴ Employment tax returns such as the quarterly Form 941 follow a similar regional split based on the state where the business operates.⁵

Verify Before Each Shipment

The IRS occasionally reassigns states between processing centers from one tax year to the next. An address that worked last year could be wrong this year. Check the current instructions or the online “Where to File” page for your specific form and tax year rather than reusing an address from a prior filing.²

Which Carrier Services Actually Qualify

Not every FedEx, UPS, or DHL shipment counts. The IRS designates specific carriers and specific service levels under Internal Revenue Code Section 7502(f).⁶ The current designated services, listed in IRS Notice 2016-30 and on the IRS website, are:⁷

DHL Express:

DHL Express 9:00
DHL Express 10:30
DHL Express 12:00
DHL Express Worldwide
DHL Express Envelope
DHL Import Express 10:30
DHL Import Express 12:00
DHL Import Express Worldwide

FedEx:

FedEx First Overnight
FedEx Priority Overnight
FedEx Standard Overnight
FedEx 2 Day
FedEx International Next Flight Out
FedEx International Priority
FedEx International First
FedEx International Economy

UPS:

UPS Next Day Air Early A.M.
UPS Next Day Air
UPS Next Day Air Saver
UPS 2nd Day Air
UPS 2nd Day Air A.M.
UPS Worldwide Express Plus
UPS Worldwide Express

Any service not on this list does not qualify. FedEx Ground, FedEx Express Saver, UPS SurePost, UPS Ground, and standard DHL packages are all treated as ordinary untracked mail, meaning the IRS goes by the date it physically receives the document, not the date you shipped it. The IRS can update this list, so check it each filing season.⁷

How the Timely Mailing Rule Works

The reason to use an approved private delivery service is Section 7502’s “timely mailing as timely filing” rule. The date a qualified carrier electronically records your package as received for delivery counts as your filing date, even if the IRS doesn’t physically receive it until days later.⁶ That recorded date functions like a USPS postmark. If your return is due April 15 and the carrier scans it into their system on April 15, you’ve filed on time even if the package arrives at the processing center on April 17.⁷

The critical detail is the electronic record. Dropping a package in an unstaffed collection box, or printing a shipping label online without actually handing the package over, may not generate the timestamped scan you need. Hand the package directly to a carrier employee, or take it to a staffed service counter, so the scan happens on the date you intend.

Keep the Receipt

Save the PDS receipt and tracking number. The carrier’s electronic record of when you tendered the package, and when the IRS received it, is your primary defense if the IRS later claims the return was late. The IRS advises taxpayers to ask the carrier for written proof of the mailing date.⁷

What Happens If You Pick the Wrong Service

Using a non-qualifying delivery service on the deadline is one of the more expensive mistakes a taxpayer can make. Ship via FedEx Ground or FedEx Express Saver on April 15, have the IRS receive the package on April 17, and you’ve filed two days late. The timely mailing rule simply does not apply.

The failure-to-file penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is overdue, up to a maximum of 25%. For returns filed more than 60 days late, there’s a minimum penalty of $525 (for returns due after December 31, 2025) or 100% of the unpaid tax, whichever is less.⁸

The Tax Court Stakes

The consequences are steeper for court filings. U.S. Tax Court Rule 22(c) incorporates the same Section 7502 framework for petitions filed with the court. In 2024, the Tax Court dismissed a case outright because the taxpayer mailed the petition using FedEx Express Saver, a service not on the approved list. The petition was shipped on the deadline but arrived two days late. Because Express Saver doesn’t qualify, the court treated the arrival date as the filing date, found it lacked jurisdiction, and dismissed the case. The taxpayer lost the right to challenge the IRS in court because of a shipping label selection.

Sending Payments by PDS

The timely mailing rule also covers payments. If you owe tax and send a check by qualified PDS, the date the carrier records the package is your payment date under Section 7502.⁶ The payment goes to the same PDS street address as the return.¹ Late payment penalties and interest run from the original due date, and with a paper check the only way to stop that clock is a qualifying carrier scan on or before the deadline. Electronic payment through IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS avoids the carrier-selection risk entirely, but if you’re already shipping a paper return, sending the payment in the same package under a qualified PDS covers both.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Submission Processing Center Street Addresses for Private Delivery Service (PDS)
2
Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Tax Returns – Addresses Listed by Return Type
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 3891 – Address Directory for Tax Practitioners and Taxpayers
4
Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Your Taxes for Form 1065
5
Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Your Taxes for Form 941
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying
7
Internal Revenue Service. Private Delivery Services (PDS)
8
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to File Penalty