ALBUQUERQUE – Postmaster Catherine Rodriguez today announced local plans for the local Post Office’s Friday, April 18, tax deadline operations. To accommodate last-minute tax filers, extended retail services will be offered, and all mail put in the collection boxes at the Main Post Office (1135 Broadway Blvd. NE) and the Rio Rancho Post Office (900 Pinetree Rd. SE) before midnight will receive the April 18 postmark.

Rodriguez urged postal customers to mail their tax returns as early prior to the federal and state deadline date as possible. By federal law, a District of Columbia holiday on April 15 has pushed this year’s deadline to April 18.

Only IRS returns collected at the Main Post Office and the Rio Rancho Post Office locations before midnight will receive the April 18 postmark. This does not apply to mail dropped in any other collection boxes after normal collection times posted on the box. Postal customers should look for the last collection time posted on the collection box to ensure their return will have an April 18 postmark.

For last minute filers, here are some Postal Service mailing tips:

• Use First-Class postage.
• Use pre-addressed labels where possible. Write clearly. Take special care to ensure that handwritten envelopes are legible and include a return address.
• Affix sufficient postage. A one-ounce First-Class letter is 44 cents; each additional ounce costs 17 cents. (Note: As the result of price changes effective on April 17, additional ounces will cost 20 cents starting on that date.) The IRS will not accept postage due mail; tax returns bearing insufficient postage will be returned to sender.
• Oversized envelopes and mail weighing over 3.5 ounces cannot be mailed at the First-Class letter rate and will require additional postage. Customers may call 1-800-ASK-USPS or go online to usps.com to obtain full postage pricing information.
• Avoid the mad rush at the Post Office. Mail returns in local collection boxes, but remember to make certain that the posted pick-up time has not passed to ensure returns will have an April 18 postmark.
• For customers who send original receipts, Registered Mail is a good choice.
• Make certain bulky envelopes are securely sealed.

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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.