PAY UP!: FINAL DAY ARRIVES FOR FILING TAX RETURN

If you waited until today to file your 1991 income tax, you're not alone.

As many as 20 million Americans, including more than a half-million Missourians, have waited until the final day to place their ~income tax returns in the mail.

Many Missourians were still scrambling today to complete income tax returns.

"There's a lot of people out there who wait until the last minute," said a spokesperson from the Missouri District Internal Revenue Service office at St. Louis. "As of Tuesday morning, there were still about 662,000 Missourians who had not filed."

That translates into almost a third of the state's usual two million returns, said Nova L. Felton, public affairs officer at the district office.

"This is deadline day unless you live in Chicago, Ill. for most Americans to file their annual income tax reports," said Felton. "The date has been extended to April 22 for people in Chicago."

The seven-day extension was announced for Windy City residents following the puncture of a retaining wall Monday that allowed millions of gallons of Chicago River water to flood a 40-mile underground tunnel system beneath the downtown area.

About 400,000 people in Missouri will have extensions, too, said Felton. "About one-fifth of Missourians request extensions each year."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Post Office at Cape Girardeau is prepared for final day mailings today and until midnight.

"We've never had any big problems here," said Postmaster Mike Keefe. "We make sure that stamp-vending machines are full, and all returns mailed here by midnight will get the April 15 postmark.

"The postmark is the thing," said Keefe. "As long as the envelope is postmarked, it doesn't matter when the taxes reach the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is going to look at the postmark."

Keefe will be on hand at the post office until midnight.

"I always come down during the final night for filing and observe the proceedings of taking mail from the outside boxes and watching the cancellation of the mail," he said. "We make sure all returns that are in at midnight are postmarked April 15."

Keefe emphasized that the only boxes that will be picked up at midnight are those at the post office building at 329 N. Frederick, and at the new mail processing center located in West Park Business Park.

The post office will also have some other visitors today. Members of the Cape Girardeau Area Taxpayer's Action Network, an affiliate of the National Citizens Against Government Waste organization, will appear in front of the post office at 5 p.m.

"We are not against paying taxes," said Dorothy Ank, president of the local group. "But people should know why their taxes are so high. One-third of our tax dollars each year are wasted by the federal government through mismanagement and special interest spending."

Another group will also appear at the post office, from noon to 2 p.m. Members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation will distribute leaflets spelling out how the government is spending tax dollars.

With only a few hours left before deadline, tax preparers expect a busy day.

"We were busy until 10 p.m. Monday night," said Lee Kimmel of the district H&R Block tax office, 1471 N. Kingshighway. "Things were light Tuesday morning, but started picking up during the afternoon, and we expect to be busy all day Wednesday."

IRS tax representatives will be in the lobby of the post office, 320 N. Frederick, from 5 to 8 p.m.

"Representatives will be available to answer last-minute tax questions," said Felton. "They will also have forms to request an extension of time to file 1991 returns.

"However, we will not prepare any tax returns at the post office," she said.

Felton said that more people were preparing their own returns this year.

"Last year, about 50,000 Missourians prepared their own returns," said Felton. "This year, about 65,000 had prepared their own returns by Monday."

More people were also filing electronically in 1992.

A year ago, a total of 175,000 returns were filed electronically. "That figure is up by more than 25 percent this year," said Felton. "As of Monday of this week, 224,000 taxpayers had filed electronically.

"It's still not too late to file federal tax returns electronically," said Felton. "In fact, you can file electronically through April 15 and still receive your refund within three weeks."

Taxpayers filing paper returns can expect an 8- to 10-week wait for refunds, she added.

The IRS expects 114 million couples and individuals to file returns this year. As of Friday, 64.1 million returns had been processed with 51.6 million refunds averaging $975 each.

A total of more than 90 million returns had been received by Monday.

Felton stressed two factors for all income tax filers:

"Check your math and sign your tax forms!

"An income tax form is not considered complete until it is signed," said Felton.