Tax Procrastinators Get a Reason To Wait

When it comes to paying taxes, millions of people put off the inevitable duty. 

According to the IRS, 25 percent of people file in the last two weeks. This year the public will have three more days to delay. The reason, like the tax code, is complicated.

The tax deadline for 2011 is April 18, as opposed to the traditional April 15 deadline, due to a rare and little known holiday in Washington, D.C. that affects the rest of the country. 

Emancipation Day was created when Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, which freed 3,000 slaves in the District of Columbia. Federal law requires the IRS to observe D.C. holidays. This year Emancipation Day falls on Saturday so its observance moved to Friday. Then, under the tax code, deadlines cannot fall on weekends or holidays, so the deadline was bumped to Monday.

Either way, it doesn’t make much difference in Forsyth County, according to Diane O’Shields of Ball Tax Service.

“We haven’t gotten a lot of calls about the extension. People in Forsyth get their taxes in early,” she says.

Tax time is fast approaching, though, and if you’re one of the rare hold-outs who hasn’t prepared your return, the USPS offers these last minute tips:

• Sign your forms. People often forget this last detail.
• Make sure you have adequate postage. A 44-cent stamp covers one ounce, roughly equal to up to five sheets of paper and one standard envelope. Add 20 cents for each additional ounce.
• Check the pick up times listed on a drop off box. Forms placed into a collection box after the last pick up time will be late.
• If your envelope weighs more than 13 ounces, it cannot be placed in a street collection box. You have to take it into the post office.

There is a silver lining in the tax day doom and gloom; the IRS says 70 percent of those who file can expect some kind of return. In Forsyth County that refund could come sooner than in places where more procrastinators reside.

“We’re so busy right now I barely have five minutes to talk,” says O’Sheilds, adding that business will die down after April 15. “If people aren’t making the April 15 deadline, they won’t make it on April 18, either. They’ve already planned on filing an extension.”

The IRS says seven percent of people plan on filing for an extension each year. 

If you’re counting on those extra three days to get your taxes in, and you’ve grown accustomed to extended hours at the post office, you just might be a procrastinator. 

If so, take note:

This year, only the CPU Citgo at Cumming Square, located at 1410 Atlanta Highway, is open late. You have until 8 p.m. if you must wait until the very last minute.