How Do I Get an IRS Payment Voucher (Form 1040-V)?

To pay a federal tax balance by mail, you download the IRS Form 1040-V payment voucher as a free PDF from IRS.gov, fill in three short lines, and send it in the same envelope as your check or money order. The voucher tells the IRS how to match your payment to your account. If you pay electronically, you don’t need it at all.¹

Where to Download the Form

Go to irs.gov/forms-pubs and search for “Form 1040-V.” Download the PDF and print it on plain paper. There is no charge, no account required, and no request-by-mail process. The current version is dated 2025 and is used with returns filed in 2026.

When to Use Form 1040-V (and When Not To)

Use the voucher any time you mail a check or money order for a balance shown on the “Amount you owe” line of Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR.¹ It also works when you e-filed your return but chose to send the payment by mail, and when you owe additional tax on an amended return.²

Two situations look similar but call for a different form. Quarterly estimated tax payments go with Form 1040-ES, not 1040-V.³ Extension payments mailed with Form 4868 use that form’s own built-in voucher.⁴

You do not have to pay the full balance. The form asks for “the amount you are paying,” which can be less than what you owe.¹ A partial payment still reduces the balance that penalties and interest apply to, so send what you can.

How to Fill Out the Voucher

The voucher has only three numbered lines, plus your name and address exactly as they appear on your return.

Line 1: Your Social Security Number or ITIN. On a joint return, use the SSN listed first.
Line 2: Your spouse’s SSN, on joint returns only.
Line 3: The dollar amount of the check or money order you’re enclosing.

The figure on line 3 must match the amount on your check. A mismatch is one of the more common causes of processing delays.

Preparing the Check or Money Order

Make the check or money order payable to “United States Treasury.” Not “IRS,” not any person’s name. Do not send cash.¹ Then write the following directly on the check itself:

Your name and address
Your daytime phone number
Your Social Security Number
The tax year and form, such as “2025 Form 1040”

If the check and voucher are ever separated during processing, that information on the check itself is what lets the IRS still apply the payment correctly. Confirm that the numeric amount and the written-out amount on the check agree.

Where to Mail It

The correct address depends on where you live, and payment addresses differ from the addresses used to file a return without a payment. For tax year 2025 returns filed in 2026, the addresses printed on the back of the voucher are:¹

Residents of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Texas: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1214, Charlotte, NC 28201-1214.
Residents of all other U.S. states and the District of Columbia: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 931000, Louisville, KY 40293-1000.
Filers with a foreign address, an APO or FPO address, a U.S. territory address, or those filing Form 2555: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1303, Charlotte, NC 28201-1303.

Place the return, the voucher, and the check loose in the envelope. Don’t staple or clip them together. The IRS runs the documents through high-speed scanners, and attached pages have to be pulled out and handled by hand.

Making Sure Your Payment Counts as On Time

For 2025 returns, the filing and payment deadline is April 15, 2026.⁵ A mailed payment is treated as timely if the U.S. Postal Service postmark is on or before the deadline, even if the IRS opens the envelope days later.⁶ The catch: if the postmark is missing or unreadable, you’re the one who has to prove when you sent it.

Certified mail with a return receipt removes that risk. The date on the certified mail receipt counts as the postmark date, and the return receipt proves the IRS received the envelope. Registered mail works the same way, and some IRS-designated private delivery services also qualify.⁶ If you’re mailing close to April 15, the extra few dollars is worth it.

Filing an extension does not extend the payment deadline. Even with Form 4868, taxes are still due April 15.⁴⁷⁸

If You Can’t Pay the Full Balance

Send Form 1040-V with whatever you can pay now, and set up a plan for the rest. The IRS offers two options through the Online Payment Agreement tool at irs.gov:⁹

A short-term plan gives you up to 180 days to pay in full with no setup fee, available if you owe less than $100,000 in combined tax, penalties, and interest.
A long-term installment agreement lets you pay monthly if you owe $50,000 or less and have filed all required returns.

If you owe more than those thresholds or prefer to apply on paper, submit Form 9465 instead. Once an installment agreement is approved, the monthly failure-to-pay penalty drops from 0.5% to 0.25%.⁷

If Your Check Bounces or the Payment Goes Missing

A returned check triggers a dishonored payment penalty. For checks under $1,250, the penalty is the lesser of $25 or the amount of the check. For checks of $1,250 or more, it’s 2% of the payment.¹⁰ Because a bounced check means the balance was never paid, failure-to-pay penalties and interest start running from the original due date.

If several weeks have passed and your check hasn’t cleared, check your bank records first. Then log in to your IRS Online Account to see your balance and up to five years of payment history and confirm whether the payment posted.¹¹ If the payment appears lost, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. The sooner you flag it, the smaller the penalty and interest window.

1
IRS.gov. Form 1040-V (2025) Payment Voucher for Individuals
2
Internal Revenue Service. File an Amended Return
3
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals
4
IRS.gov. Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File US Individual Income Tax Return
5
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Announces First Day of 2026 Filing Season; Online Tools and Resources Help With Tax Filing
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying
7
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty
8
Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates
9
Internal Revenue Service. Payment Plans; Installment Agreements
10
Internal Revenue Service. Dishonored Check or Other Form of Payment Penalty
11
Internal Revenue Service. Online Account for Individuals