ST PAUL, MN — Don’t look now but tax day – Monday, April 18 this year – is just around the corner. To aid last-minute filers, the Post Office at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will offer retail and collection services until midnight. The Airport Post Office is located at 5001 Northwest Dr. Take the Post Rd. exit off of MN Highway 5 and follow the signs.

In addition, the window at the Minneapolis Main Post Office, 100 S. 1st St., will remain open until 8 p.m. Mail collections will be made in front of the facility until midnight.

The St. Paul Main Post Office, 180 E. Kellogg Blvd., will close at 5:30 p.m. The last collection from the boxes outside the Post Office will also be 7 p.m.

The IRS expects approximately 142 million Americans, including nearly 2.5 million Minnesotans, to file tax returns this year with an estimated 30 percent of them using the mail. Approximately 70 percent of Americans can expect a refund. Most Americans file their taxes well in advance, but the IRS says 25 percent wait until the last week to file or mail their return.

Tax Mailing tips:

• Apply proper postage and stamps, especially with extra forms/schedules. It costs 44 cents for the first ounce. Before April 17, add 17 cents for each additional ounce. On April 17, the price for additional cents rises to 20 cents. One ounce is about four pages, but since paper weights vary, it’s always best to check or play it safe and add a stamp.
• If you use a larger envelope, First Class postage is 88 cents for the first ounce.
• Double check the last collection time before depositing a tax return in a blue collection box on April 18 to ensure that your return is postmarked before the deadline.    
• If you use a non-IRS labeled envelope, make sure you print the proper IRS address.
• Print your return address in the upper-left-hand corner of your tax mail envelope.
• Customers with tax questions can contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040; or www.irs.gov

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 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 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 $67 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 29th in the 2010 Fortune 500. 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 six consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.