FORT WORTH, TX — Because Monday, April 16 is Emancipation Day, a holiday recognized in Washington D.C. the Internal Revenue Service today reminded taxpayers who have not yet filed their 2011 tax returns that individual returns and payments are due Tuesday, April 17, 2012. To accommodate last minute filers, the Jack D. Watson General Mail Facility (GMF), located at 4600 Mark IV Pkwy, Fort Worth, TX 76161, will be collecting mail until Midnight, on Tuesday, April 17.  Postal employees will be collecting mail outside the Jack D. Watson postal facility by the drive through collection boxes.  Any mail dropped off at this location before midnight will receive the April 17 postmark.  Additionally, the Jack D. Watson retail window will remain open until 10 p.m. to accommodate the sales of postage, money orders, certified mailing or registered mailing for tax returns.

For customers using the curbside drop-off at the Jack D. Watson GMF:
- Please try to drop off as early as possible; as the night goes on, traffic increases.
- Pull up as far as possible to the next available collector and try to pull as close to the curb as possible.
- If your passenger side window is inoperable, you will need to park your vehicle and hand it to a collector; our collectors will not, for safety reasons, be able to come around to a driver’s side window.
- If you have a dog in the car, please make sure it is under control, to ensure collectors will not be in danger of a bite.
- Postage is not available for purchase at curbside.  Stamps and other types of postage can be purchased at the Retail window until 10 p.m. at the Jack D. Watson facility. The Automated Postal - Center located in the outer lobby is available 24 hours daily, for those needing to purchase postage after the retail window closes at 10 p.m.

All IRS returns collected at the Jack D. Watson GMF location before midnight will receive the April 17 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 17 postmark. 

In addition to the Jack D, Watson GMF location, the following Fort Worth Post Offce locations have retail hours of service until 6 pm:
- Downtown Station located at 251 W. Lancaster Avenue
- Trinity River Station located at 4450 Oak Park Lane
- Kenneth N. Mack Station located at 3701 Alta Mesa Blvd.

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. One letter-sized ounce is 45-cents; each additional ounce up to 13 ounces costs an additional 20 cents. One ounce large envelopes are 90-cents. The next ounce is $1.10. All postage rates can be found on www.usps.com.
- Double-check postage. Weigh any return that feels heavier than one ounce. Tax agencies do not accept postage due mail; tax returns bearing insufficient postage will be returned - meaning taxpayers may be penalized for filing late tax returns.
- 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 18th postmark.
- For customers who send original receipts to tax agencies, registered mail is a good choice.
- Make certain bulky envelopes are securely sealed.

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 self-supporting government business, 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.

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