What Address Do You Send IRS Payments To? By State and Form

The address to send IRS payments depends on the form you’re filing and the state you live in. There is no single mailing address: the IRS routes payments to processing centers in Austin, Charlotte, Kansas City, Louisville, and Ogden, and the right one changes based on whether a check is enclosed, which form it’s attached to, and where you live. Because the IRS reassigns states between centers from year to year, always confirm against the current form instructions or irs.gov before you drop anything in the mail.

Form 1040 Payment Addresses by State

If you’re mailing a check or money order with your individual return, the destination depends on your state of residence. Louisville handles most of the country; only a group of southern states ships to Charlotte.1Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals Filing Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR

  • Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1214, Charlotte, NC 28201-1214
  • Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 931000, Louisville, KY 40293-1000
  • Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 931000, Louisville, KY 40293-1000
  • Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 931000, Louisville, KY 40293-1000

Include Form 1040-V, the payment voucher, with your check. The voucher is what lets the IRS match the payment to your account.2Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-V, Payment Voucher for Individuals

If you’re mailing a return without a payment, the addresses are different — Austin, Kansas City, or Ogden depending on state — because refund and zero-balance returns are processed separately from paying returns.

Estimated Tax Payments (Form 1040-ES)

Quarterly estimated payments go to a different pair of addresses than annual Form 1040 payments. The IRS specifically warns against sending 1040-ES vouchers to the Form 1040 address.

  • Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1300, Charlotte, NC 28201-1300
  • Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 931100, Louisville, KY 40293-1100

The IRS corrected the 1040-ES mailing addresses partway through the 2026 filing year. If you downloaded or printed the form before February 13, 2026, your voucher may show an outdated address.3Internal Revenue Service. Correction to the Mailing Addresses in the 2026 Form 1040-ES The addresses above come from the updated version.4Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Form 1040-ES Estimated Tax for Individuals Quarterly due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year.

International Filers and Territory Residents

If you live in a foreign country, use an APO or FPO military address, file Form 2555 for the foreign earned income exclusion, file Form 4563, or are a dual-status alien, the IRS uses a single pair of addresses regardless of where abroad you’re located.5Internal Revenue Service. International – Where to File Form 1040 Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals

  • With payment: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1303, Charlotte, NC 28201-1303, USA
  • Without payment: Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Austin, TX 73301-0215, USA

Residents of American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands should consult IRS Publication 570 for territory-specific filing instructions.

Business Tax Forms

Business returns use their own addresses, and the correct one depends on the form, your business location, and sometimes your total assets. The form’s instructions carry the definitive list.

For Form 941, the quarterly payroll return, all domestic businesses mailing a payment send it to Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 932100, Louisville, KY 40293-2100, regardless of location. Form 941 filings without a payment go to Kansas City or Ogden depending on which half of the country the business is in. The IRS encourages e-filing for employment tax forms, and businesses filing 10 or more returns in a calendar year are generally required to e-file.6Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Your Taxes for Form 941

Corporate returns (Form 1120) and partnership returns (Form 1065) are routed by principal office location, total assets, and whether Schedule M-3 is filed. A partnership with its principal office in the eastern half of the country and less than $10 million in assets, for example, mails Form 1065 to Kansas City, MO 64999-0011. Partnerships with $10 million or more in assets, or those filing Schedule M-3, mail to Ogden, UT 84201-0011 regardless of location.7IRS. 2025 Instructions for Form 1065 Thresholds and state groupings differ between the two forms, so check the current year’s instructions.

Payments Tied to an IRS Notice

If you’re paying because of a CP2000, a balance-due letter, or any other IRS notice, use the address printed on the notice itself. Each notice is handled by a specific compliance unit, and the address on the letter routes your payment directly to the people working your case.8Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP2000 Series Notice Sending notice-related payments to a general filing address is one of the most common routing mistakes and can delay resolution by weeks.

For standalone balance-due payments on your individual tax account where you’re paying off a liability but not filing a return, the IRS keeps a separate address list. Most states are directed to Internal Revenue Service Center, Kansas City, MO 64999-0206.9Internal Revenue Service. Where to Send Your Individual Tax Account Balance Due Payments

How to Prepare the Check

The right address only helps if the check is prepared the way the IRS expects. A few specifics matter:

  • Make the check payable to “U.S. Treasury,” not “IRS” or “Internal Revenue Service.”
  • On the memo line, write your name, address, daytime phone number, the tax year, the form number (such as 1040 or 941), and your Social Security number or Employer Identification Number.
  • Write the amount in numbers, like $1,250.00.
  • Don’t send cash. Don’t staple or paper-clip the check to the return or voucher.10Internal Revenue Service. Pay by Check or Money Order

If a check bounces, the penalty for payments under $1,250 is the lesser of the payment amount or $25. For payments of $1,250 or more, the penalty is 2% of the payment, so a $5,000 bounced check adds $100 to your bill.11Internal Revenue Service. Dishonored Check or Other Form of Payment Penalty

Proof of Mailing and the Postmark Rule

Federal law treats the postmark date on your envelope as the date the IRS received your payment, provided the envelope is properly addressed and carries enough postage. That’s the timely-mailing-as-timely-filing rule at 26 U.S.C. § 7502.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying Mail on April 15 and arrive on April 22, and you’re still on time if the postmark reads April 15.

Certified Mail is the strongest proof because the date on the sender’s receipt counts as the postmark date. Registered mail works the same way. For anything else, you’re relying on a legible cancellation stamp, and if it’s not legible, the burden is on you to prove when you mailed it.13eCFR. 26 CFR 301.7502-1 – Timely Mailing of Documents and Payments Treated as Timely Filing and Paying In 2026, USPS Certified Mail costs $5.30 on top of regular postage, with a return receipt adding $4.40 for a physical green card or $2.82 for electronic confirmation. That’s cheap compared to the failure-to-pay penalty of 0.5% per month on the unpaid balance.14Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty

Using FedEx, UPS, or DHL

Only specific service tiers from three private carriers qualify for the timely-mailing rule. Use something that isn’t on the approved list and the delivery date, not the ship date, is what counts. The approved services include DHL Express 9:00, 10:30, 12:00, Worldwide, Envelope, and Import Express variants; FedEx First Overnight, Priority Overnight, Standard Overnight, 2 Day, and several International tiers; and UPS Next Day Air Early A.M., Next Day Air, Next Day Air Saver, 2nd Day Air, 2nd Day Air A.M., and Worldwide Express variants. FedEx Ground and UPS Ground are not on the list.15Internal Revenue Service. Private Delivery Services (PDS)

Private carriers cannot deliver to P.O. Boxes, and most IRS payment addresses are P.O. Boxes. Use the IRS submission processing center street addresses instead, matching the center your form’s instructions designate:

If You Mail to the Wrong Address

A misdirected payment eventually gets rerouted, but “eventually” can mean weeks. During the delay, the failure-to-pay penalty of 0.5% per month and interest keep accruing on your unpaid balance.14Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty

The bigger risk is losing the postmark protection. Section 7502 requires that the envelope be “properly addressed,” meaning sent to an address listed in the form’s instructions. Send your return to an IRS office not designated for that form and the postmark date no longer counts. The payment is treated as received on the date it actually arrives at the right location.17Internal Revenue Service. 20.1.2 Failure to File/Failure to Pay Penalties

You can ask for penalty abatement based on reasonable cause, but not knowing the right address is a hard argument to win when the IRS publishes those addresses in every form’s instructions. If you get a penalty notice from a misdirected payment, respond promptly and explain what happened. The IRS has discretion to waive penalties when the facts support it.

Electronic Alternatives

Mailing a check is the slowest and riskiest way to pay. IRS Direct Pay draws straight from a checking or savings account for free, requires no registration, and gives you a confirmation number immediately.18Internal Revenue Service. Direct Pay with Bank Account An IRS Online Account adds the ability to schedule payments up to 365 days ahead and view five years of payment history.19Internal Revenue Service. Online Account for Individuals Businesses typically use EFTPS, which requires enrollment that can take up to five business days.20Internal Revenue Service. EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System

Debit card payments cost about $2.10 to $2.15 per transaction. Credit card payments cost 1.75% to 1.85% of the amount, so a $5,000 bill adds roughly $87 to $93 in fees.21Internal Revenue Service. Pay Your Taxes by Debit or Credit Card or Digital Wallet Same-day wire transfers through the Federal Tax Collection Service are available for urgent payments, with fees and cutoff times that vary by bank.22Internal Revenue Service. Same-Day Wire Federal Tax Payments