Why is the Managed 83(b) Election add-on not free?

It's cheap and easy to mail a document and hope for the best. This is largely what free 83(b) election filing services do. But that's not good enough when millions or even billions of dollars are on the line. Our Managed 83(b) Election add-on follows best practices to minimize the chance of any problems with your 83(b) election. Doing it this way involves significant manual labor and postage, which is why our add-on isn’t free.

The following table highlights the differences between our Managed 83(b) Election add-on and what other services do. We'll explain why those differences are important and how they add manual labor and postage further below.

<sup>1. Renews annually at $0.50 per month.↩
2. Delivery to other countries available for an extra charge.↩</sup>

USPS Postmark on Certified Mail Receipt

Why it's important:

• Required for the receipt to be considered "prima facie" evidence of delivery in court
• Without the USPS postmark, the receipt is not clearly considered "prima facie" evidence

Cost:

• Labor for going to the post office, making sure the USPS staff stamp the receipt, and making sure the postmark date is legible
• Labor for scanning and uploading the receipt
• USPS fee for Certified Mail service

Priority Mail Service Postage (×2)

Why it's important:

• The USPS is less likely to lose Priority Mail
• Priority Mail is faster than First Class, which can give you more time to address any delivery issues that come up

Cost:

• Priority Mail class is 7× more expensive than regular mail

Alerts for Delivery Problems

Why it's important:

• If the USPS loses your paperwork, or if you suspect it may have, you may want to use our Managed 83(b) Election add-on again to be safe

Cost:

• Labor for monitoring your tracking history and alerting you to problems

USPS Return Receipt

Why it's important:

• Makes it very hard for the IRS to say they didn't receive your 83(b) election
• Lets you know your 83(b) election was delivered even if the USPS tracking system fails or you don't receive an IRS-stamped copy of your 83(b) election back

Cost:

• Labor for requesting, receiving, scanning, and uploading the return receipt
• Labor for filing Form 3811-A with USPS if the return receipt is not returned
  USPS fee for the return receipt

IRS-Stamped Copy of 83(b) Election

Why it's important:

• Provides irrefutable evidence that the IRS received your 83(b) election

Cost:

• Labor to prepare a prepaid Priority Mail envelope (with Certified Mail service)
• Labor for receiving, scanning, and uploading IRS-stamped copy
• Priority Mail postage and Certified Mail service fee

1 Year of Government-Grade Physical Storage

Why it's important:

• Minimizes the chance of evidence being lost, destroyed, or damaged (only one set of physical evidence exists)

Cost:

• Labor and cost involved in packing and storing your evidence, including sending and retrieving your evidence to and from a government-grade storage facility

Secure U.S. Delivery of Physical Evidence

Why it’s important:

• Minimizes the chance evidence is lost by the USPS (only one set of physical evidence exists)
• The physical evidence may contain your SSN or ITIN; Registered Mail service is the most secure service the USPS offers

Cost:

• The postage for sending your evidence by Priority or Registered Mail is at least 7× more expensive than regular mail; your choice of service is covered by the fee

Still have questions about our Managed 83(b) Election add-on? You can check out our blog for more details or reach out to our support team.