People who wait until after 5 will have to drive to either Fayetteville’s main post office, which will be open until 9 p.m., or to Greensboro, where the main office is open until midnight, to affix the all-important April 15, 2005, postmark that will prevent taxpayers from getting a dreaded late-filing penalty.
Another alternative would be filing for extension until Aug. 15. But if you owe money to the Internal Revenue Service and/or the state, you still must have it in the mail and postmarked by today.
For several years, the main post office in Pinehurst was the only one in Moore County that observed “tax night” by extending its hours on April 15, to give people more time to mail their returns. Not this year, according to Postmaster Denise Krise. She said Thursday that the main location on Blake Boulevard off N.C. 5 is discontinuing the practice. It will close at 5 p.m., as will post offices in Southern Pines, Carthage, Aberdeen, and Robbins.
“For the last couple of years, ours was the only post office in Moore County to remain open for late postmarking, and I would personally drive the mail from Pinehurst to the Fayetteville processing office where they are open in the evening.
“Last year, I only had about 10 pieces, so we discontinued it this year and will close at 5.”
Pinehurst’s main office was to hold a customer appreciation day today, with refreshments being served in the lobby from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The post office in downtown Pinehurst closes at 2:30 p.m. today as usual.
Local post offices have been seeing an increase in the number of people mailing their tax returns as the April 15 deadline neared.
“We are beefing up our window service as much as we can on Friday, particularly during the peak hours of early morning, noon and from 4 p.m. on, when we’ll have beaucoups of people in the lobby,” said Southern Pines Postmaster Scott Lanni on Thursday.
The main post office in Pinehurst is doing the same, said Supervisor Bill Hughey.
“If we stayed open until midnight, someone would want to come in at 12:01,” one postal worker said.
The number of people who come in to the smaller offices after 5 apparently haven’t justified the additional expense of keeping employees on hand to work after normal hours.
“Our district manager didn’t authorize any more money to extend our hours to receive the later returns,” Lanni said.
Lanni said Southern Pines has not extended its hours past 5 p.m. since he came here several years ago.
Mail trucks leave the Moore County postal sites to deliver mail for the next processing step in Fayetteville’s district office shortly after the offices close at 5 p.m. Sometimes outside boxes have drop slots, but mail won’t be picked up from these boxes for same-day processing after the posted pickup time.
Lanni put up notices all over the lobby of the Southern Pines post office a couple of weeks ago reminding people that the office would close at its regular time of 5 p.m. on April 15.
Customer traffic has increased as tax day nears, but Lanni said he hasn’t heard any complaints. He does expect long lines.
“I’ve always wondered about the mentality of somebody getting their tax returns in at the last minute,” Lanni said. “It seems a symbolic statement by waiting until the very last day.”
Companies and businesses must get their wage and salary statements out to employees on Jan. 31. Typically, most people who file their returns early are the ones getting refunds. Most last-minute filers are probably the ones who have to pay.
Lanni said he is waiting until this morning to mail his returns. He is using certified mail, which cost a little extra. That provides a paper trail to prove that it was mailed on time, in case it gets lost or misrouted.
To allow the windows to close promptly at 5, Lanni advised customers to get in line well before the witching hour.
