Somers taxpayers are encourages to mail their tax payments early. A recent U.S. Postal Service policy change may affect when envelopes are postmarked.

In August 2025, the Postal Service instituted a nationwide change as to when a postmark is affixed to incoming mail. Instead of postmarks being affixed when the item is first touched by the Postal Service, postmarks are now stamped at regional sorting centers.

“That means your postmark could be several days after you put it in your mailbox,” Kenosha County Treasurer Teri Jacobson said. “In other words, if you plan to pay your property taxes by mail, don’t wait until right before the deadline to put it in the mail.”

Many federal and state laws define timely payment based off the USPS postmark, meaning payments may be considered delinquent if they are mailed too close to the deadline — even if they were, in fact, placed in a mailbox before the deadline.

To avoid this issue, Jacobson encourages Kenosha County property taxpayers to mail payments earlier or to use the E-check option to pay online to avoid becoming delinquent and accruing substantial late fees.

“While card payments often come with a significant 3 percent convenience fee, E-check convenience fees for tax payments made on the county website are a flat $1.50 per payment which comes out to about the same as postage for your payment and a return receipt,” Jacobson said. “This could be a great option for people who are concerned that they are mailing their payment too close to the deadline and want to make sure that they are not going delinquent.”

Somers taxpayers can make their payment on the County’s website at https://pp-kenosha-co-wi-fb.app.landnav.com/login/ by using the guest sign in option and searching by either the property address or property/parcel number (do not use both).

Taxpayers should avoid sending tax payments utilizing their personal bank’s online bill payment option as those payments are often done in bulk, so there is a danger those could arrive late and become delinquent as well. This type of payment has become even more problematic in recent years as the time it takes for USPS items to arrive at its destination after mailing has increased.

Another option could be to physically bring your payment into the post office and request that they postmark your payment in front of you or by sending it certified mail.