MEMPHIS, TN — Have you filed your taxes yet? If not, the Postal Service is here to help. The deadline this year to file federal tax returns is Monday, April 18. It was moved from April 15 because of the observance of Emancipation Day, a Washington DC holiday.

All Post Offices in the Memphis area will maintain their regularly scheduled retail operating hours on April 18th. The Airport Station, located at 4233 Louis Carruthers Drive, is open until 10 p.m. weekdays; the Main Post Office, located at 555 S. Third Street, is open Mon-Fri until 6 p.m.

Postal employees at the Main Post Office will assist customers with convenient curbside pickup of tax returns in the parking lot, where returns will be accepted until midnight at the blue collection boxes located in front of the Post Office.

Customers who mail their returns on the 18th are cautioned to check the posted pick-up times where the mail is deposited to ensure their tax documents will be collected and postmarked by the April 18 deadline. Mail deposited after the last posted collection time will not be postmarked until the following day.

Customers with questions may call the Postal Service’s free, 24 hour toll-free number, 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777). Post Office operating hours are also online at www.usps.com, by clicking on “Locate a Post Office” at the top of the page, and entering a ZIP Code. Here, you can also locate alternate locations to buy stamps, locate APCs or conduct postal business.

Automated Postal Centers (APCs) are available at 11 area Post Offices. Using a debit or credit card, customers can use the APC to weigh and mail their tax returns or regular mail and packages. Most APC locations are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Postal Service offers the following tax mail tips:

• Affix sufficient postage. One ounce is 44 cents. (one ounce is about four pages) Effective April 17, each additional ounce is 20 cents, making a 2 ounce letter cost 64 cents; a 3 ounce letter would be 84 cents in postage.
• 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 who wish certification that their tax mail form is received by IRS, should mail it using Certified Mail Service/Return Receipt — available at your local Post Office.
• Customers with tax questions can contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040; or go to www.irs.gov

The U.S. Postal Service reminds taxpayers that it 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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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

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.