BALTIMORE, MD — It’s Tax Time again, and the Post Office is ready to assist customers with their tax mailing needs.  Taxpayers will have an extra weekend to file this year because of Emancipation Day, a Washington, DC holiday.  The deadline to file federal and state returns is Tuesday, April 17, instead of the usual April 15.

Post Offices in the Baltimore District (comprised of ZIP Codes beginning with 210-219) will offer normal full-service window operations on Tax Day, Tuesday, April 17. The ONLY office with extended hours will be:  Baltimore Main Post Office located at 900 E. Fayette Street.  They will be open from 8:30am to 9:00pm.

• Taxpayers are urged to avoid the typical errors made when mailing their returns each year, which are: unsigned forms, not enough postage and depositing returns in collection boxes whose pickup time has past.
• If mailing from a street collection box, check the last pick-up time to make sure your return will be collected that day. The latest collection time in the Baltimore District will be 12 midnight at the Main Post Office, 900 E. Fayette Street.
• Use pre-addressed labels where possible. Write clearly. Take special care to ensure that handwritten envelopes are legible. Include a return address.
• Use First-Class postage -- the Internal Revenue Service recognizes the First-Class letter postmark as proof a return was mailed on time.
• Affix sufficient postage. One ounce is 45 cents; 20 cents for each additional ounce--2 oz. 65 cents; 3 oz 85 cents.
• Double-check postage. Weigh any return that feels heavier than one ounce.
• Rule of thumb: up to 5 sheets of 20-lb. paper in a #10 envelope equals one ounce.
• The IRS does not accept postage due mail even if it has the April 17 postmark; tax returns bearing insufficient postage will be returned — meaning taxpayers will be penalized for filing late tax returns.
• For customers who send original receipts to tax agencies, registered mail is a good choice.
• Make certain bulky envelopes are securely sealed.
• Postal regulations require that stamped tax returns weighing 13 oz. or more must be mailed at a Post Office. They cannot be mailed in a collection box.
• Automated Postal Centers (APC), or self-service kiosks, are available 24/7 at various Baltimore Post Offices (locations at Postal Locator on usps.com), and an April 17 date stamp/postmark will be provided if the mail is deposited by the last pickup time posted on the Automated Postal Center on April 17. Certified/Return Receipt service is available.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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A list of processing facilities studied, FAQs, mail processing b-roll, and additional information can be found at usps.com/ourfuturenetwork.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With nearly 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.