U.S.P.S. change could impact postmark on tax payments

RICHLAND CENTER, WIS. (WRCO / WRCE) Richland County residents who pay their property tax bills by mail are being advised of a recent U.S. Postal Service policy change that may affect when envelopes are postmarked.

In August 2025, the Postal Service instituted a nationwide change as to when a postmark is affixed to incoming mail. Instead of postmarks being affixed when the item is first touched by the Postal Service, postmarks are now stamped at regional sorting centers. Richland County Treasurer, Ashley Mott said,

That means your postmark could be several days after you put it in your mailbox. In other words, if you plan to pay your property taxes by mail, don’t wait until right before the deadline to put it in the mail

Many federal and state laws define timely payment based off the USPS postmark, meaning payments may be considered delinquent if they are mailed too close to the deadline, even if they were, in fact, placed in a mailbox before the deadline.To avoid this issue Richland County property taxpayers should mail payments earlier or use the E-check option to pay online to avoid becoming delinquent and accruing late fees.

However, only a handful of municipalities in Richland County accept online payments for real estate taxes. They are: Town of Akan, Town of Buena Vista, Town of Dayton, Town of Orion, Town of Rockbridge, Town of Willow, Village of Cazenovia, and the City of Richland Center. Online tax payments can be made on the County’s website. Login by using the guest sign in option and searching by either the property address or property parcel number. 

Taxpayers are also cautioned about sending tax payments utilizing their personal bank’s online bill payment option as those payments are often done in bulk with many other customers’ payments and the envelopes do not have the postmark affixed to the envelope, so there is a danger those could arrive late and become delinquent as well. 

Another option could be to physically bring your payment into the post office and request that they postmark your payment in front of you or by sending it certified mail, Mott said.

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