Tips for Tax Day, Monday, April 18

West Palm Beach Main Office Window Unit Retail Associate Pat Moody is all smiles during last year's tax season. Moody is ready to assist a deluge of customers expected to mail their income tax returns on Monday, April 18. Photo: Karin Nolf

If you have not yet filed your 2015 income tax return, you have a few extra days … Tax Day is Monday, April 18. The regular tax return filing deadline is April 15. However, due to the Washington D.C. Emancipation Day holiday being observed on April 15 instead of April 16, 2016, Tax Day is the following Monday.

Tax Day Tips:

• Mail early in the day at any Post Office.  Be sure to verify Post Office hours of operation.

• If depositing a tax return in a collection box on April 18, double check the pick-up time on the collection box. Your tax envelope must be deposited prior to the last scheduled pick-up time posted to receive the April 18 postmark. 

• Affix the correct postage. Some tax returns include many forms and require additional postage. For First-Class letter-sized envelopes, one ounce is 47 cents and 21 cents for each additional ounce. A two-ounce letter-sized envelope is 68 cents. A First-Class flat-sized (8 ½ X 11) envelope, the cost is 94 cents up to one ounce and 21 cents for each additional ounce. That’s $1.15 for a two-ounce flat-sized envelope.

• Customers may purchase postage at the retail counter or at a Self-Service Ship and Mail Center (credit/debit card only) in the Post Office lobby. Stamps also are available at alternate retail access locations posted at usps.com.

• Due to heightened security, mail that bears only postage stamps and weighs more than 13 ounces must be taken by the customer to a Post Office retail counter.

     Products and services: 

Priority Mail Express Service gets your tax return to many locations the next day guaranteed or your money back. Priority Mail Express includes online tracking and signature at delivery.

Priority Mail Service gets your tax return delivered in an average of 2-3 days. Priority Mail with USPS Tracking provides a receipt of mailing for recordkeeping purposes and allows the customer to confirm electronically at usps.com, or at 1-800-222-1811, that the mailing was delivered to the Internal Revenue Service.

First-Class Mail Service is an efficient, economical option to mail your return with the all-important April 18 postmark.

Proof of Mailing Services provide customers with peace of mind. Services prove that you mailed your tax return, verify that it was delivered or both: 

• Certificate of Mailing - This receipt shows evidence you mailed your tax return.
• Certified Mail - This receipt proves you mailed your tax return and provides online access to verify the date and time of delivery.
• Return Receipt - This receipt verifies both mailing and delivery, returning to you a postcard signed by the person who received your package. 

Click-N-Ship Online Service allows you to print Priority Mail Express and Priority Mail labels, with or without postage, from any computer.

In 2015, the Miami GMF parking lot was transformed into a drive-through for the convenience of last-minute tax filers. On Monday, April 18, the tradition will continue. L to R: Miami Processing and Distribution Center Postal Support Employee (PSE) Clerk Rosalyn Montalvo, Mail Handler Ramona Johnson, Mail Handler Rose Fraga, Clerk Dedra Goudas, and Mail Handler Althea Atkins from last year's drive-through. Photo: Debra J. Fetterly