NEW YORK CITY, NY / WESTERN NAUSSA, LONG ISLAND –- Post offices in all five boroughs of NYC as well as Western Long Island ZIP Code areas of 110, 111 and 116, are prepared to handle additional volume for the April 15 federal tax filing deadline. These post offices will maintain regular business hours on April 15, 2014, typically referred to as Tax Night.

Customers looking for a late night post office on Tax Night can visit the James A. Farley post office which is extending retail counter hours until midnight. Postmaster Elvin Mercado tells us, “Anyone inside the Farley post office and on line before midnight will receive service.”

To add to the unique experience of late night tax filing postal representatives at the Farley post office will be available in the lobby to assist customers with preparing their mail.  Several special booths will be available for customers wishing to purchase stamps only and another location to obtain an April 15 postmark on mail with postage already applied. Postal customers using a credit or debit card can opt to avoid retail lines by using one of 8 Self Service Kiosks offered at the Farley post office available 24/7all year long. The Self Service Kiosk provides the transaction date on the customers receipt.

The USPS also reminds customers of the many conveniently situated alternative access locations throughout NYC and Long Island for easy access to postal services. These include, Self Service Kiosks, Contact Postal Units, Approved Shipping Retail Centers, banks, retail and grocery stores and pharmacies which sell postage stamps and many offering other postal products and services, such as Certified Mail, Express Mail and Priority Mail.  Many of these locations offer later hours outside of regular post office business schedules.  To find one nearest you logon to www.usps.com to and review the list from the Locate a Post Office tab.  Information is also available by calling the USPS Customer Care Center at 1-800-ASK-USPS (800-275-8777).

TIPS FOR MAILING TAX RETURNS:

• First-Class letter-size postage is 49 cents for the first ounce and 21 cents for each additional ounce.
• If you use a larger envelope, First Class postage is 98 cents for the first ounce and 21 cents for each additional ounce.
• Customers wanting certification that their tax forms are received by the IRS, should mail them using Certified Mail Service with a Return Receipt.
• Make sure your tax return form is signed and dated and all schedules and supporting documents are enclosed.
• Affix the appropriate postage, especially since the item may weigh more than an ounce. Have a postal sales and service associate weigh and rate the item for you. Tax agencies will not pay postage due and your short-paid return will be returned to sender – and you may miss the deadline (tip: 5 pages equals’ approximately one ounce).
• Be sure to include a return address on your envelope. Short-paid items without a return address will be sent to the postal mail recovery office for determination of the sender, delaying its return.
• Tax forms are no longer available at Post Offices. Check at local libraries or online at http://www.irs.gov/ (Federal forms) or http://www.tax.state.ny.us/forms/ (NYS forms).

Before you deposit your tax return into a collection box, check the pick up schedule adhered to the box.  Mail deposited before the last scheduled pick up time will receive an April 15 postmark.

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

Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

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 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, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. 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.

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