Where to Mail Your 1040 Tax Return: IRS Addresses by State and Payment Status

Where you mail your 1040 tax return depends on two things: the state you live in and whether you’re sending a check with it. Returns without a payment go to one of three IRS service centers in Austin, Kansas City, or Ogden. Returns with a payment go to separate lockbox P.O. boxes in Charlotte or Louisville. Sending a payment return to a no-payment address, or vice versa, delays processing by weeks. The addresses below reflect the current IRS filing-year groupings for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR; paper returns for the 2025 tax year are due April 15, 2026.

Mailing Addresses When You Are Not Sending a Payment

If you’re getting a refund or your return shows a zero balance, use the service center for your state. Form 1040-SR filers age 65 and older use these same addresses.1Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Tax Returns – Addresses Listed by Return Type

  • Austin, TX 73301-0002 — Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas. Address it to: Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Austin, TX 73301-0002.
  • Kansas City, MO 64999-0002 — 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. Address it to: Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Kansas City, MO 64999-0002.
  • Ogden, UT 84201-0002 — Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming. Address it to: Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Ogden, UT 84201-0002.

Use the full ZIP+4. The -0002 extension routes paper 1040s to the right unit within the center; dropping it or substituting a different extension can send your return to the wrong department in the same building.2Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals Filing Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR The IRS can shift state groupings from year to year, so confirm your address on the IRS “Where to File” page before mailing.

Mailing Addresses When You Are Sending a Payment

If you owe money and are enclosing a check or money order with Form 1040-V, do not use the service-center addresses above. Payment returns go to separate lockbox facilities set up to process checks quickly.2Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals Filing Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR

  • Charlotte, NC 28201-1214 — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas. Address it to: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1214, Charlotte, NC 28201-1214.
  • Louisville, KY 40293-1000 — every other state listed above, including 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, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Address it to: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 931000, Louisville, KY 40293-1000.

The pattern is simple: the southeastern states route payment returns to Charlotte, and everyone else routes to Louisville. If you mail a payment return to Austin or Ogden by mistake, the IRS will eventually redirect it, but your payment can sit in limbo for weeks and may post late.

If You Live Outside the United States

U.S. citizens and resident aliens living abroad, filers using an APO or FPO address, and anyone filing Form 2555 for foreign earned income use a single pair of addresses rather than the state tables.3Internal Revenue Service. International – Where to File Form 1040 Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals

  • No payment: Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Austin, TX 73301-0215, USA.
  • With payment: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1303, Charlotte, NC 28201-1303, USA.

Residents of American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands should check IRS Publication 570 before mailing, because some territories run their own tax systems and the filing rules differ.3Internal Revenue Service. International – Where to File Form 1040 Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals

Before You Seal the Envelope

The most common reason the IRS mails a paper return back is a missing signature. Sign and date page two in the designated area. On a joint return, both spouses must sign, or the whole return gets rejected and returned to you.

Attach your W-2 forms to the front of your Form 1040. This step applies only to paper filers; e-filers are specifically told not to mail W-2s separately.

If you owe, make your check or money order payable to “U.S. Treasury” (not “IRS”). Write the following directly on the check:

  • Your name and address
  • Your daytime phone number
  • Your Social Security number or ITIN
  • The tax year, for example “2025”
  • The form number, for example “1040”

Do not staple or paper-clip the check to the return or voucher. The IRS runs payments through high-speed scanners, and staples and clips slow that down.

Include Form 1040-V With Your Payment

When you mail a balance-due return, include Form 1040-V, the payment voucher for individuals, with your check or money order. The voucher helps the IRS match your payment to your return and lists the correct lockbox address for your state. You can download it from the IRS website or find it inside the Form 1040 instructions.

Postage

A single first-class stamp covers letters up to one ounce, which is roughly five pages. Most returns with schedules and W-2s weigh more. As of January 2026, USPS first-class rates are $0.78 for the first ounce, $1.07 for two ounces, and $1.36 for three ounces. If your return is bulky enough to qualify as a large envelope (flat), postage starts at $1.63 for the first ounce. Underpaid envelopes come back to you, and by then you may have missed the deadline. Weigh the envelope on a kitchen scale or at the post office counter before affixing stamps.

Get Proof You Mailed On Time

Under federal law, the postmark date counts as your filing date even if the IRS receives the envelope days or weeks later.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying That protection only helps if you can prove the date. Regular first-class mail doesn’t give you that proof.

USPS Certified Mail is the standard choice. It costs $5.30 per item on top of postage as of January 2026 and gives you a dated mailing receipt plus delivery tracking. Add an electronic return receipt for $2.82 if you want confirmation the IRS received it. Registered Mail costs more and provides a full chain of custody, which matters if you’re mailing right at the deadline.

The IRS also recognizes specific services from DHL Express, FedEx, and UPS under the timely-mailing rule.5Internal Revenue Service. Private Delivery Services (PDS) Not every service level qualifies. FedEx First Overnight, Priority Overnight, Standard Overnight, and 2 Day qualify; UPS Next Day Air and 2nd Day Air qualify; DHL Express services qualify. The full list is on the IRS website, and the carrier can provide written proof of your mailing date.

One catch: if you’re enclosing a payment with Form 1040-V, the IRS says to use regular U.S. mail, not a private delivery service. The payment lockboxes are set up to receive USPS deliveries, and a private carrier can delay payment processing.6Internal Revenue Service. Pay by Check or Money Order So if you owe money and want tracked delivery, mail the whole package via USPS Certified Mail, or pay electronically through IRS Direct Pay and send just the return by private carrier.

If You Owe but Can’t Pay the Full Amount

File the return anyway. The failure-to-file penalty runs at 5% of unpaid tax per month, capped at 25%. The failure-to-pay penalty runs at 0.5% per month, also capped at 25%.7Internal Revenue Service. Failure to File Penalty Filing on time and paying late is roughly ten times cheaper per month than missing both. Mail the return to the payment address for your state with whatever check you can send, and arrange the balance separately.

If you need more time to file, Form 4868 gives an automatic six-month extension to October 15, but it does not extend the deadline to pay. Form 4868 uses its own set of mailing addresses that differ from the 1040 addresses above, so check the Form 4868 instructions before mailing.8Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Paper Tax Returns With or Without a Payment Form 1040-X amended returns also use different addresses than original 1040s.9Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals Filing Form 1040-X