Change of address notice to court, IRS, or licensing board
By Justin Winter · Updated August 22, 2026
The short answer
A court, the IRS or a licensing board may keep using your old address until it receives your notice. Send it Certified with electronic Return Receipt, $14.99 all-in: USPS records when it was mailed and when it was signed for. Preview the exact pages free. Procedures vary by agency; this template is not legal advice.
The math
The math on one certified letter.
| Option | Cost | Your time |
|---|---|---|
| paperplane, Certified + Return Receipt | $14.99, all in | About two minutes |
| At the counter | USPS fees, plus printing, an envelope and the trip | About ten minutes at the counter, plus the drive and the line |
USPS charges the same fees whoever hands the letter over. The difference is the trip, the form and the slip you keep for a year.
Filing a change of address with USPS keeps your everyday mail flowing to your new place, but it does not touch anyone else's records. A court clerk, an IRS unit, or a state licensing board only knows the address you last gave them in writing — forwarding is a Postal Service instruction to redirect envelopes, not a database update that reaches the agency itself.
Why a specific address on file matters
Courts, the IRS, and licensing boards generally mail notices to whatever address they have on record for your case, account, or license number. If you moved and never told them directly, a filing deadline, renewal notice, or even a summons can go to your old address and be treated as properly sent — whether or not it ever reaches you. Some jurisdictions allow a party to be considered notified, or even legally served, once mail is sent to the last address of record, regardless of whether a USPS forwarding order was in place. That risk is the reason to send this notice directly rather than assuming forwarding will cover it.
What this letter does
The template above is a short, formal notice: it identifies your case, account, or license number, states your old and new address and the effective date, and asks the recipient to update its records and confirm receipt. Keeping it brief and specific makes it easy for a clerk or processing unit to route to the right file.
Send it Certified, not First-Class
Because the point of this letter is proof that the agency received your new address, we recommend Certified Mail with electronic Return Receipt ($14.99 all-in) over plain First-Class ($0.99). Certified gives you a tracked delivery record, and the electronic Return Receipt gives you a signature confirmation you can keep with your case file — useful if you ever need to show exactly when the court, IRS, or board was notified. Upload your letter as text or a PDF, we typeset and print it, and USPS delivers it; no printer, envelope, or trip to the post office required.
If you have multiple open matters — say, a court case and a separate license renewal — check whether each one tracks your address independently. Many agencies file by case or account number rather than by name, so one notice to one office does not automatically update every other file you have with that same organization.
This page and the letter template are provided for convenience and are not legal advice. Requirements for updating an address of record vary by court, agency, and jurisdiction, and some matters have specific forms or procedures you must follow instead of, or in addition to, a general letter. Confirm the correct process with the specific court, agency, or board before relying on this notice alone.
Keep reading
Questions before you send
Why not go to the post office myself?
You can, and if your time is free it costs less. USPS charges the same fees whoever hands the letter over; paperplane does not replace the post office, it replaces the trip. The mailing record comes from USPS, not from us. $12.99 covers the printing, the envelope, PS Form 3800, a USPS address check before you pay and a handoff the next business day. For a letter you already know how to send, the counter is a fine choice.
What if they refuse the letter?
USPS tracking records what happened to it, including refused or unclaimed. You still have the mailing record. Rules on what that means vary, so check with your court or an attorney if a deadline depends on it.
If something goes wrong, do I pay?
If we cannot mail the letter, the hold on your card is released and you are not charged. If a letter fails after your card is charged, you are refunded automatically and in full.
Why not just rely on USPS mail forwarding?
Forwarding only redirects mail already sent to your old address — it does not update your address on file with a specific court, agency, or board. Some can legally consider you "served" at your old address if you never formally notified them, regardless of a forwarding order.
Do I need to notify every case number or account separately?
Often yes — courts and agencies frequently track address by case or account number, not just by name, so check whether you need a separate notice for each open matter.
Is this legal advice?
No — it is a template. Specific address-update procedures vary by court, agency, and jurisdiction; confirm the required process before relying on this letter alone.