Don’t send your payment to the IRS’s main headquarters in Washington, D.C. That’s like mailing a love letter to the office janitor—it will get lost, and nobody will know what to do with it. Always use the address provided by the “Where to File” tool on the IRS website. It’s updated every year, so don’t rely on that scrap of paper from 2019.
And for the love of all that is holy, write your Social Security number on your check. The IRS is not good at guessing. “Oh, this check from ‘Hippie Joe’ must be for 2026 income from my dog-walking empire”—nope, they just throw it in a pile and send you angry letters.
