Send a fax online in United States

The United States is one of the countries where fax has proven most persistent. Fax machines have largely disappeared from homes, but faxing itself has not — it has moved online. For many organizations, especially in healthcare, law, finance and government, fax is still the channel they list on their forms, and sometimes the only one besides mail.

Healthcare is the most visible example. Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and insurers routinely use fax to exchange patient records, lab results, referrals, prior authorizations and prescriptions. The HIPAA Privacy Rule does not prohibit faxing protected health information: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says providers may share it by fax, phone or email as long as they apply reasonable safeguards, such as confirming the recipient's fax number. Many providers' records departments still list a fax number for requests.

The legal profession is another long-standing user. Law firms, courts, title companies and government offices use fax for signed contracts, notices and certain filings. Many courts have moved to mandatory e-filing, but fax is still accepted in many places for specific documents, and the transmission confirmation gives the sender a record that the document was sent. Rules differ by court and document, so check before relying on fax for a filing. For preparation tips, see our guide on how to fax legal documents online.

Financial services — banks, insurers, mortgage lenders and brokerages — use fax for signed forms, claims and account paperwork, particularly where a wet signature on a form is still expected.

Government agencies at every level continue to rely on fax. The IRS publishes fax numbers for many forms, including Form SS-4, Form 2553, Form 2848, Form 8821 and Form 4506-T, while tax returns themselves cannot be faxed. State tax departments, courts, DMVs and city halls also maintain fax lines for official correspondence. Our guide to faxing the IRS lists the IRS fax numbers by form and state, and our list of US fax numbers covers other common destinations.

What has changed is how Americans send faxes. Few people keep a fax machine and a landline at home anymore; online fax services let you send a document from a computer or phone instead. If you send faxes regularly or need to receive them, a subscription service with its own fax number makes sense. If you only need to send one now and then, paying per fax is simpler.

JustFax Online is a send-only, pay-per-fax service. Upload your document — PDF, PNG, JPEG, or TIFF — enter the recipient's US fax number (area code plus the seven-digit number), and send. There is no account to create, no subscription and no app. Sending costs $5.75 for up to 4 pages and $0.65 for each additional page (pricing). Your card is only charged if the fax is delivered: if the line is busy we retry automatically, and if every attempt fails the payment authorization is released. You'll get an email confirmation when the fax is delivered. For a walkthrough, see our step-by-step guide to sending a fax online.