Feeling a Little Dumb

I got a letter from the IRS saying I forgot to sign my tax return this year. Since I normally file online, but can't any more due to location, it is not all that surprising that I forgot a silly little step like that.

However, the letter informing me of that issue specifically says that I had to return the signed declaration within 20 days of the date of the letter. If I lived in America and, therefore, didn't use the entire system that caused me to forget to sign my return in the first place, I could have accomplished that. But I live in Canada now; I received the letter after the 20 days had elapsed.

For as nice a country as Canada is, there are a few areas of failing, one of which is the postal service. For as much as Americans complain about the post office, it still is one of the world's largest and most efficient companies, moving tons of mailing quickly around the nation. Canada's postal service is not nearly as big, efficient, or fast. It doesn't deliver on Saturdays, Sundays, most holidays, and when it feels like it (for example, if the carrier feels the snow is too bad during the winter, they simply don't deliver to that area that day).

As an inadvertent test, my wife and I have sent items to the same location (my mom's house) from both Calais, ME (just across the border) and from our house in Canada. Those sent from Calais usually take two to three days to reach its destination on the other side of the country. Those sent from here average about 13-15 days.

I called the IRS this morning and, luckily, I can simply send in the signed declaration without issue (I neither owe nor am owed money), so they just want the declaration to attach to my return. So we put it in the mail today for its at least two week journey to Texas this morning.

Good luck, mail, good luck!