Postal Service change could affect your Richland County tax bill. Mail it today?
A technical change to how the U.S. Postal Service handles postmarks could affect your Richland County property tax payment.
Why? Because going forward, your mail may not be postmarked the same day it’s sent out. Prior to the change, first-class mail would be postmarked when it arrives at a local post office. Now, that postmark won’t be issued until the letter is processed at a regional mail facility. That can take an additional 1-2 days, or longer on weekends and holidays.
Richland County tax payments sent via mail must be postmarked by Jan. 15.
Richland County Treasurer Kendra Dove issued a statement Monday confirming that the county will continue to process mail based on the postmark, meaning any tax payments postmarked after the Jan. 15 deadline would be considered late and subject to a late fee, even if it was delivered to a Post Office by that deadline.
The Postal Service change has national implications. The rule change, issued quietly Dec. 24, is expected to have a sweeping ripple effect: Any mail that previously relied on a postmark deadline is expected to be affected, from the risk of mail-in ballots being marked too late to count, to legal documents missing specified deadlines, according to an analysis by think tank The Brookings Institution.
That analysis found roughly 35% of South Carolina zip codes are at risk of significant postmark delays, based on proximity to regional processing facilities. That ranks the state near the middle of the pack nationally.
What can you do to ensure your tax payment doesn’t miss the deadline?
- You can risk it and put the payment in the mail by today, Jan. 13, and hope it gets postmarked in time.
- You can go in-person to a Post Office or other Postal Service retail location and request a manual postmark for the same day.
- You can pay your Richland County tax bill in-person at the County Treasurer’s office at 2020 Hampton Str., or pay at one of Richland County’s self-service kiosks at 5425 Lower Richland Blvd, 1320 Clemson Rd., or 1009 Bickley Rd.
This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 12:47 PM.
