Does a postage-meter date stamp count as the postmark for proving an Arkansas property tax payment was mailed by the October 15 deadline?
Subject
Whether a postage-meter date stamp qualifies as a "postmark" for purposes of timely property tax payment under A.C.A. § 26-35-501(c). AG Tim Griffin concluded it does not, and the county tax collector cannot accept a meter-stamped late envelope as timely.
Plain-English summary
A constituent in Benton County ran their property tax payment through an office postage meter on October 15, 2025, the deadline. They then dropped the envelope at a Fort Smith post office that same day. USPS did not apply its own postmark until the envelope reached the Fayetteville sorting facility, where it was stamped October 17, 2025. The Benton County tax collector treated the payment as late and assessed the 10% delinquency penalty.
AG Griffin walked through three questions and answered all three the same way: no.
First, a postage meter is not a postmark. A.C.A. § 26-18-105(a)(2) is explicit: "Only the postmark of the United States Postal Service, rather than those of private postage meters, shall qualify" for state-tax timeliness purposes. A postage meter, by definition, only proves that you ran the envelope through your own machine on a particular date. It does not prove USPS ever received the envelope, much less when.
Second, federal law mirrors that result. The Domestic Mail Manual defines a "postmark" as "a marking applied by the Postal Service to a mailpiece." A meter strip is a customer-applied label, not a postmark. USPS itself has publicly acknowledged that it stopped hand-canceling at every post office decades ago, that mail is now postmarked at separate processing facilities, and that the postmark date may not match the day the customer mailed the item. USPS recommends that anyone needing date proof ask for a manual postmark at the retail counter when they tender the envelope.
Third, because the meter stamp does not establish timely USPS custody, the Benton County tax collector had no choice. Late equals late, and the 10% penalty under A.C.A. § 26-36-201 is mandatory. The collector has no discretion to waive it, even when the taxpayer's office took the envelope to USPS on the deadline date.
The opinion cross-references its companion piece, Ark. Att'y Gen. Op. 2025-122, which addresses the same factual scenario from the angle of whether anyone, the collector, the county court, or the circuit court, has authority to waive a late penalty. The answer there is no across the board.
What this means for you
If you are an Arkansas property owner
Do not rely on your office postage meter to prove a timely tax payment. The meter stamp legally proves nothing about USPS custody. If you mail close to the October 15 deadline, two safe practices: (1) take the envelope to a USPS retail counter and ask for a manual postmark on the spot, or (2) use Certified Mail or Registered Mail, which generates a USPS-receipted date of mailing. Better still: pay in person, online, or far enough ahead of the deadline that processing-facility postmarks land safely before October 15.
If you are already in the situation where a meter-stamped envelope was postmarked late by USPS, this opinion is bad news. The penalty is mandatory and not subject to appeal at the county collector, county court, or circuit court level (see Op. 2025-122). The only realistic remedy is a legislative fix.
If you are a county tax collector
You are bound to enforce. Even when a taxpayer has clearly tried in good faith to pay on time and the late USPS postmark is the result of USPS's own routing decisions, you cannot accept the meter date or waive the penalty. The statute uses "shall" for the 10% extension, which the courts read as mandatory (State of Wash. v. Thompson). If a taxpayer asks, point them to A.C.A. § 26-18-105(a)(2), this opinion, and Op. 2025-122 so they understand that the answer is the same at every level: collector, county court, circuit court.
If you run an Arkansas business mailing tax payments
Treat your postage meter as a postage-purchase tool, not a date-of-mailing tool. Update the mail-room standard operating procedure so that any tax-deadline payment goes through one of three channels: in-person at the collector, requested manual postmark at a USPS retail counter, or Certified Mail. The cost difference is small relative to a 10% penalty plus interest on a property-tax balance.
If you are an Arkansas legislator
The current statute is clear and the AG's reading is the only honest one. If the policy result, taxpayers penalized for USPS routing delays after they did everything right, is unsatisfactory, the fix is statutory. Options include allowing meter dates as backup proof of mailing under defined conditions, allowing Certificate of Mailing or Registered Mail receipts to substitute for a USPS postmark, or carving out an administrative appeal process for payments postmarked within a short grace window after October 15. None of those is available under current law.
Common questions
Q: My envelope was mailed October 15 but USPS postmarked it October 17. Is there any administrative appeal?
A: No. The companion opinion (Op. 2025-122) confirms that no one, the county collector, the county court, or the circuit court, has authority to waive the mandatory 10% penalty in A.C.A. § 26-36-201. The penalty is not appealable.
Q: Does a Certified Mail receipt count as proof of timely mailing?
A: A USPS-issued Certified Mail receipt shows USPS accepted the item on a specific date, with USPS's date stamp, and is materially different from a private postage-meter date stamp. The opinion notes that USPS "has other services that involve proof-of-mailing: Certificate of Mailing, Registered Mail, and Certified Mail." If you need date-of-mailing proof close to a tax deadline, those USPS services give you it; a postage meter does not.
Q: What about online payment?
A: Online payment processed by the county tax collector by October 15 is timely, with no postmark question. If your county offers it, that is the safest deadline-day option.
Q: I asked the post office for a manual postmark and they refused. What now?
A: USPS publicly acknowledges that customers can request a manual postmark at retail and that the request should be honored. If a clerk refuses, escalate to the postmaster on the spot or use Certified Mail or Registered Mail in the same visit; both produce USPS-dated proof.
Q: Does this opinion change how the deadline works for installment payments?
A: No. A.C.A. § 26-35-501(c)(3)(A) specifically allows the final installment payment to be "mailed and postmarked by October 15." But "postmarked" still means a USPS postmark, not a meter date stamp. The meter does not satisfy the installment-payment timeliness rule either.
Background and statutory framework
A.C.A. § 26-35-501(c)(3)(A) allows mail-in payment of property tax installments and treats a payment as timely "if mailed through the United States Postal Service and postmarked by October 15." A.C.A. § 26-18-105(a)(2), part of the Tax Procedure Act, expressly limits "postmark" to USPS postmarks for state-tax purposes and excludes private postage-meter marks. A.C.A. § 26-36-201 makes the 10% delinquency penalty mandatory for any property tax not paid by October 15.
USPS's own published guidance (Domestic Mail Manual § 608.11.1, .11.3, .11.4 and the USPS "postmarking myths and facts" page) defines postmark narrowly, excludes meter strips and customer-applied labels, and tells customers that any need for date proof must be handled by a manual postmark request or by a service that generates USPS-dated evidence (Certificate of Mailing, Registered Mail, Certified Mail).
Bennett v. Director, Employment Security Department, 73 Ark. App. 281, 283, 42 S.W.3d 588, 590 (2001), reinforced this in the unemployment-appeal context: an attorney who ran a notice through a postage meter but did not secure timely USPS delivery could not blame the late filing on circumstances beyond control.
Citations and references
Statutes:
- A.C.A. § 26-35-501(c) (property tax payment by mail)
- A.C.A. § 26-18-105(a)(2) (USPS postmark requirement)
- A.C.A. § 26-36-201 (10% delinquency penalty)
USPS guidance:
- Domestic Mail Manual § 608.11 (Postal Information & Resources)
- USPS Newsroom: Postmarking Myths and Facts (about.usps.com)
Cases and opinions:
- Bennett v. Director, Employment Security Department, 73 Ark. App. 281, 42 S.W.3d 588 (2001)
- Ark. Att'y Gen. Op. 2025-122 (companion opinion on inability to waive penalty)
Source
Original opinion text
BOB R. BROOKS JR. JUSTICE BUILDING
101 WEST CAPITOL AVENUE
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72201
Opinion No. 2025-117
March 4, 2026
The Honorable R. Scott Richardson
State Representative
4106 SW Rhinestone Blvd.
Bentonville, Arkansas 72713
Dear Representative Richardson:
You report that your constituent "used a mail meter in their office" that placed "a date stamp of October 15, 2025," on the constituent's property tax payment. Later that same day, the constituent delivered the payment to a postal facility in Fort Smith. The post office did not apply its own postmark until the envelope reached a sorting facility in Fayetteville, where a second postmark dated October 17, 2025, was placed on the payment. When the payment reached the Benton County Tax Collector, the Tax Collector disregarded the earlier date stamp and assessed a late fee based on the October 17 postmark. You have asked these questions.
Question 1: When a mail meter applies a postmark, does it satisfy and meet the requirements of A.C.A. § 26-35-501(c)?
No. Under Arkansas law, a postage meter date stamp does not qualify as a postmark. Instead, a postage meter date stamp proves only that a mailpiece was run through a postage meter on a certain date. A postage meter date stamp does not establish "timely delivery to the post office," and it does not meet the requirements of A.C.A. § 26-35-501(c).
Question 2: Under Arkansas law and the applicable federal law, does a metered stamp satisfy the requirements of a postmark?
No. As explained in response to Question 1, a metered stamp does not qualify as a postmark under Arkansas law.
Similarly, federal law defines a "postmark" as "a marking applied by the Postal Service to a mailpiece." A postmark serves to confirm "that the Postal Service accepted custody of a mailpiece, and that the mailpiece was in the possession of the Postal Service on the identified date." But "the postmark date does not necessarily indicate the first day the Postal Service had possession of the mailpiece." And "the absence of a postmark" does not imply that the Postal Service never accepted custody of an item, since not all mail is postmarked in the ordinary course of operations.
By contrast, pre-printed labels applied by the customer before mailing, such as postage printed from self-service kiosks, online postage, and meter strips, do not constitute postmarks. They merely show that a customer purchased and printed postage on a certain date. They cannot be used to demonstrate that the Postal Service accepted custody of a mailpiece.
The Postal Service has also publicly acknowledged that it "began moving away from hand-canceling every item at Post Offices decades ago." Mail is now transported to a separate processing facility for postmarking, and "the date on the postmark applied at [these] processing facilities will not necessarily match the date on which the customer's mailpiece was collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a retail location." The Postal Service advises that "if a customer wants to ensure that their mailpiece receives a postmark, and that the date on the postmark aligns with the date of mailing, the customer may take the mailpiece to a Postal Service retail location and request a manual (local) postmark at the retail counter when tendering their mailpiece."
Question 3: Based upon the fact that the payment was marked October 15, 2025, by mail meter, should the Benton County Tax Collector accept the underlying payment as timely and not have assessed a late penalty?
No. As discussed above, if the Benton County Tax Collector received a payment with a postage date stamp of October 15, 2025, the collector cannot accept the payment as timely. Further, the collector does not have discretion in assessing a penalty when taxpayers do not pay their personal property or real estate taxes by October 15 of each year.
Assistant Attorney General Jodie Keener prepared this opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
TIM GRIFFIN
Attorney General