Tax Deadline Tonight

DETROIT (WWJ) - It's Tax Day. And if you're filing by mail, you'll need to get your return into the Detroit Main Post Office by 10 p.m.  This year, no local post offices are staying open until midnight.   

We all had an extra three days to file because Emancipation Day, a holiday observed in Washington D.C. , fell this year on Friday, April 15th. District of Columbia holidays impact tax deadlines in the same way as  federal holidays.

Ed Moore, Detroit District Spokesman for the U.S. Post Office, offered a tip to last-minute filers.

"If you're going to place your returns into a blue collection box, you want to make sure you look at the last collection time that that's going to be picked up. Because if you place it in there after that collection time, you're not going to get that April 18 postmark that you need, and your return is going to be considered late," Moore said.

WWJ spoke with Nettie of Hazel Park who had a pretty good reason for waiting til the last minute.

"We're filing on the last day, mostly because we had to come up with the money to pay for it," she said.

Meanwhile, Jason Kassab of Liberty Tax says those who are planning to file an extension still need to make a payment to the IRS, if they owe taxes.

"A lot of people think that an extention is an extention of time to pay, if they owe taxes. But it's only an extention of time to file because you don't have everything to file your taxes today," he said.

Kassab said filers should make an honest estimate of what they owe and their payment will be adjusted when their taxes are done.

What if you're worried about filing because you owe and can't afford it? WWJ spoke with IRS Detroit spokesman Luis Garcia.

"It's not this horrible thing that is going to go away, if you just don't file.  It's just going to get worse. So  make sure that you file. If you can't pay, give us a call. We've got lots of different programs. We are going to work with you, but don't ignore it," he said.

The main Detroit Post Office on Fort Street will be open til 10 p.m. The Royal Oak Post Office will be open until 7 p.m. and the Redford Post Office will be open until 9 p.m.