Tax Day: Post Offices Won't All Be Open Late On April 17

Most post offices will not be staying open late for tax day. So be prepared.

If you plan on mailing in your taxes minutes before midnight on Tuesday, you might want to reconsider your plans.

Most post offices are not staying open late on Tax Day this year, according to the U.S. Postal Service website and news reports. While post offices have historically extended their hours on Tax Day, USPS officials say that staying open late is obsolete and too expensive.

The USPS has been grappling with a budget shortfall and plans to close up to 3,700 post offices, according to NPR.

No post offices in the New York City area, the Los Angeles area or the Houston area will be staying open later than usual on Tax Day, according to the USPS website. New York's main post office will be open until 10 p.m. as usual.

This is the first year that no central Ohio post offices will be open late on tax day this year, according to the Columbus Dispatch. A USPS spokesman told the Dispatch that "it's not really cost effective" to keep post offices open late.

This is also the first year that no post office in the Bay Area will be open until midnight on Tax Day, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The main branches in San Jose and Oakland will close at 10:30 p.m., which is later than usual.

Post offices in St. Louis will not stay open late on tax day, according to Fox 2 Now.

Many people still use the post office to file their tax returns at the last minute. Deadly car crashes spike 6 percent on tax day, according to a study by the University of Toronto, perhaps due to drivers rushing to file their tax forms on time.

Late tax filers will be charged 0.5 percent of unpaid taxes per month, plus interest, which is currently 3 percent per year, according to Reuters.

If you're filing your taxes online, you'll have until midnight on Tuesday, April 17. You can submit your taxes online here.

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Comments

[oilusa]

11:00 PM on 04/14/2013

Save with petroleum, April 15 is tomorrow?
Thomas Chee
OILUSA.CO

[jsgaetano]

03:06 PM on 04/17/2012

Wow, people still file by mail?

[mwesternsun]

02:12 AM on 04/17/2012

One would think at least one Post Office in every town would be open until midnight to collect tax returns.

The lack of service is amazing.

[DSevere]

11:11 AM on 04/14/2012

We used to be those people who filed for an extension every year because we couldn't get it together (have a small business and very complex return). Then we got a really good accountant with a company that makes all its tax appointments in NOVEMBER. They tell you, your appointment is on March 30th at 2PM, or whatever. And that way, we know we have a hard deadline, and we manage to do it. I really recommend this approach, don't wait for the last minute.

[FrankN2]

10:34 AM on 04/14/2012

This has big empty portions of audio track missing (the naration!).

[austinlad]

07:01 AM on 04/14/2012

Here's a revolutionary way to avoid "a major tax day mistake."

File days or better yet weeks before the deadline. Uh, it's not like that annual deadline should be a surprise.

[wayicit]

11:00 PM on 04/13/2012

E-file them.....

[Sixtyplusfour]

11:40 PM on 04/13/2012

E-File and loose your identity for the hackers and scammers are out in droves waiting for you.

[GeeBee]

03:07 AM on 04/14/2012

Explain how you manage to come to that ridiculous conclusion?

[Sealabian]

09:55 PM on 04/13/2012

Be kind to your postal workers. They are doing their best to serve you!

[straightuptalker]

06:52 AM on 04/14/2012

And that's precisely why I still use snail mail, including for mailing tax returns. Nothing has failed to meet its destination to date. As for filing my taxes, I let the CPA do it, so if there's an error, the onus is on him, not me.

[pennypii]

02:57 PM on 04/13/2012

They are shutting down protest all over the country. We used to protest with signs and speeches at the post office near midnight in my city on April 15. With the Post Office closed now there are no more protesters against our oppressive tax system. Or any other things people wanted to communicate to our Ruling Class. They no longer want to be bothered to listen to us any more.

[RFreeman]

10:03 PM on 04/13/2012

You're right, I'm sure that's the reason they've stopped keeping the post offices open until midnight on Tax Day. They're afraid of your protesting.

[Ian McCulloch]

10:33 PM on 04/13/2012

Protest your elected officials, not your underpaid civil servants.