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IRS Direct Pay service states... "The payment date below is the date you will get credit for the payment. As long as you have submitted your payment on or before the due date and receive a confirmation number in this program, you should avoid penalties or interest on your account even though actual payment does not occur until the next available banking day."

This makes it unclear to me whether or not payment will be considered late when "submitted" date of the 14th (9PM CST) but with a "credit" date of the 16th. The first sentence of their policy makes it seem like it would be late, yet the second sentence makes it seem like its fine.

Cant find an answer for this anywhere I look. Any help is much appreciated.

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It says clearly: "As long as you have submitted your payment on or before the due date and receive a confirmation number in this program, you should avoid penalties or interest on your account even though actual payment does not occur until the next available banking day."

Why does it confuse you?

The time for payment is postmark time, in this case - submission time. When it is received (=you get credit, when the actual payment occurs) is of no consequence and is given for your information only.

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  • That was my exact thought, but then why would they even mention a different "credit date" at all? Why not just say mention submission date and leave it at that? The intent of the question is to seek 100% certainty rather than just being pretty sure.
    – Wisteso
    Commented Jun 16, 2015 at 4:42
  • @Wisteso the reason they tell you is exactly that: Even though the actual credit occurs later, what matters is when you submitted.
    – littleadv
    Commented Jun 16, 2015 at 4:55
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The IRS is treating this exactly the way mot credit card companies treat it.

You have a due date and time. If you go to the website, fill out the online payment form, push the button, and get a confirmation number before the clock hits that specified time; then you are considered paid.

Credit card payment sites will say things like "payment submitted after 5 pm Eastern time are considered payments the next day." It may take minutes or days for the money to move to their account after you push the button, but your payment is still considered on time.

For the IRS this is similar to the way they use the post-mark for mailed documents. Before everybody paid on line there used to be a long line of cars in front of the post office to drop off the forms after 11 PM. In big cities they would take the letters and throw them in a big box as fast a they could. The post office would lock the box at midnight and then behind the scenes spend the next few hours putting a postmark on by hand that still said April 15th.

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