Just about to mail 4 checks and forms for the treasury and for the California franchise tax board: should I get (a) proof of sending; (b) confirmation of delivery; (c) don't bother?

I know it's a personal choice but if a check wasn't to arrive then maybe one of the above methods would avoid late payment penalties if produced as proof; on the other hand I don't want to spend money unnecessarily.

We always get the one where they sign for it and we get a card back in the post I forget the name, the card you fill out is green Does that help?

I used to send stuff like that with a "return receipt" but now I don't bother.

Both the US Treasury and the CA Franchise Tax board are very quick about cashing the checks and you will effectively get proof of delivery when you see that your check has been cashed at most 3 or 4 days after you mailed it.

Last year our check was cashed before we got the green card back.

IRS is pretty efficient in cashing checks. We send everything regular mail. Always did.

We sent our tax check in on Monday last week (regular mail) it was cashed on Thursday!

Oh yes....as everyone above has said...IRS and Ca.Franchise Tax Board will waste no time depositing your $$$$$$s.
The problem is...the POST OFFICE:
I learned a bitter lesson this year...mailed our twice yearly Property Tax payment in a timely manner - as always.
Was shocked and appalled when, several months later, a penalty arrived in the mail for delinquent property tax payment
"IMPOSSIBLE!", I said to myself, and jumped on the phone.
Was informed that our payment was received several days late. And so began a Sherlock Holmesian investigation into what in the world had occurred....which, believe it or not, led to the Property Tax office locating a scanned copy of my original envelope - which, in turn revealed there was NO POSTMARK at all stamped on the delivered envelope. And this was precisely what was required by them in order for me to prove that the payment was posted in a timely manner.
Well I could not produce what did not exist - because of a Post Office screw-up. Bottom line: A $550 fine!

So Geoff: I'd advise...get a "Certificate of Mailing". Costs about $1.20 (in addition to the postage charge). This is what the Property Tax Office advised I do in future so as to be able to produce concrete proof of timely mailing.

... but that was exactly my point - if you don't see that your check has been cashed within a few days of mailing it you can pretty safely assume that it has been lost and take appropriate action. This only becomes an issue if your mailed the payment so close to the due date that you don't realize that the check has not been cashed until the payment is already overdue.

By the way, I still cannot get used to the idea that the cut off date for filing and/or paying taxes or voting by mail is determined by the date that the thing was mailed - sorry, but that is just insane

Thanks everyone. They went certified in the end as the bloke in the post office said it was good enough. They're due next week so wait and see isn't an option.

In my opinion the easiest way is to order priority mail flat rate envelopes from USPS (free) using the internet and print the label on the internet and you get a reduced cost of about $0.50 plus free tracking for a total of $5.05.

Therefore if you print the tracking information and put it with your copy of the tax return, you have proof of delivery.

It may be slightly cheaper using your own envelopes and paying for postage and a tracking number or certification but with the bar code and a professionally printed address in the correct place, it is more likely to get there than a handwritten address on a letter.

I did laser print the envelopes actually. Next time I will probably pay online. I didn't try this time as I recall when I tried to pay CA franchise tax last year I wasn't able to in the first year. Might've only applied to that but it was just easier to do them all at once in the same way.

As far as I know all of the online payment options cost money

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Pay-Taxes-by-...-or-Debit-Card

Yah, California costs about $20.

If you use CA web pay using your checking account it's free, same with the IRS EFTPS from your bank account. I use them both now, you can control the exact date the money is taken from your account and you don't have to worry about checks in the mail.

There's also the option of putting your bank account info on your tax return(s), and they'll direct debit the same way.

Wow, yes, mailed on 6th and cashed on the 9th (do they call it "cashing a check" here?), at least for IRS/Treasury.

I noticed that on a lot of things. To me it actually makes a lot of sense, since you have met your obligations of sending on time, and any delays the mailing service introduces once it has left your paws should not be your fault. Maybe there should be a later cut-off too so an envelope that arrives years later (hello Royal Mail) doesn't upset things.