Postal workers prepare for procrastinators

By Nancy Glasscock

While those who have already filed taxes are free to participate in leisurely activities this weekend, procrastinators may be spending today through Tuesday calculating returns as the filing deadline approaches.

Taxpayers have until Tuesday afternoon to postmark returns because April 15 falls on a Sunday this year and April 16 is Emancipation Day, which is a legal holiday in Washington, D.C. Postmaster Lynn Rives said the Cullman Post office was open regular business hours — 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and was scheduled to be open from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday. Rives said the Post Office hadn’t seen more customers than usual during the week, but said she expected more people to converge on the office Tuesday.

She advised customers to be prepared when they enter the Post Office to mail tax returns.

“Just have your mailing address and your returns together so we can throw it on the stack and weigh it,” she said.

Chasidy Morgan, who works at the Hanceville Post Office, said long lines will be less likely if if customers are as prepared as possible before they enter the post office.

“Some people don’t, and they hold everyone else up,” she said.

The Hanceville Post Office is open from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and from 8 a.m. until noon Wednesday and Saturday. Morgan said she didn’t expect a large crowd at the Hanceville Post Office Tuesday, but that long lines would probably be seen at larger facilities like the Cullman Post Office.

Regular business hours at the Vinemont Post Office are from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday, a spokesperson for the post office said.

According to the Associated Press, results from an AP pole show most people file their tax returns electronically because it’s convenient, in spite of concerns about the security of sensitive financial information. Half of those surveyed said they use a professional tax preparer to file their returns, a quarter use a software program, 15 percent do the returns with a pen and paper and 8 percent ask a friend or family member for help, according to the survey, conducted by Ipsos, an international polling firm.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, taxpayers should exercise caution when filing online to avoid a new tax scam on the Internet.

The scam lures taxpayers into filing tax information on a site masquerading as a member of the Free File Alliance, but IRS representatives said the only place to access the Free File program is through an official IRS.gov Web site.

“The final days of the tax season always bring tax scams,” IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a press release. “Make sure you’re really dealing with the IRS. Taxpayers can feel safe using Free File, but the only way to do it is through the secure IRS.gov Web site.”

The latest twist on tax scams involve tax preparation Web sites that inaccurately say they are part of the Free File Alliance, a partnership between 19 tax software companies and the IRS. The IRS is working with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to look into allegations the Web sites accepted tax information, changed the taxpayers’ bank account numbers to their own and then filed the return through a legitimate Free File partner, according to the IRS.