Tax deadline brings surge of last-minute filing

The Bible has 774,746 words in it, and some people take an entire year to read it. Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" has 660,000 words and is considered mammoth.

Now consider the Internal Revenue's tax code, which has a staggering 2.8 million words and if printed would fill almost 6,000 letter-size pages.

No wonder so many U.S. taxpayers wait until the last minute to file.

Today is April 15 -- Tax Day -- and the Internal Revenue Service estimates that of the 132 million tax filers, 38 million have waited until the last two weeks before tonight's deadline at midnight.

"There's a surge of tax filing that's happening right now and a lot of people wait until the last minute," said Bill Barksdale, an IRS spokesman for Missouri and Kansas. "Missouri's not different than any other state."

An example is John Ruch, who filed his returns late Monday afternoon. He said he's been too busy to pay the proverbial Tax Man until now.

"I've been working midnights, 48 to 72 hours a week and time is not of the essence," said the Jackson resident. "Especially when you've got to pay more, man."

Barksdale said that 1.8 million Missourians had filed as of Monday, and of those, 924,000 have filed electronically at www.irs.gov. That represents a 10 percent increase from last year, he said.

More than 171,000 Missourians will be requesting extensions, out of the total 2.6 million expected to file, Barksdale said. The average refund for the 2002 tax year has been averaging about $1,997, $43 more than last year.

Area post offices are expecting brisk business from those who wait until the last day.

"It's been busy all day today," Toni Charles said Monday. Charles is the manager of customer service at the Cape Girardeau post office. "I imagine Tax Day will be a replay -- nonstop."

Expect a line, be patient

The post office's lobby will close at 5 p.m. today, though if tax filers drop their returns off at the post office's outdoor mailbox by midnight, it will be postmarked April 15, Charles said. Returns can also be dropped off at the post office processing station at 475 Kell Farm Road.

Charles suggested that people should expect a line and remain patient. Having the mail properly addressed and with correct postage will help.

The post office in Scott City's last pickup is at 4:30 p.m. Filers who miss that must go to the Cape Girardeau post office to get an April 15 postmark. The last pickup in Jackson is at 5:15 p.m.

Local tax preparers are also expecting a busy day.

"It will be all day people," said Teresa Robinson, office manager of H&R Block. "We've expanded our hours and brought in extra people."

Barksdale said that people could still file electronically until midnight tonight. He said that about 50 percent of tax filers now do so online and the IRS hopes to have that number up to 80 percent by 2008.

He said that it helps reduce errors and that only 1 percent of e-filed returns have errors.

"It checks your math," he said of the system. "If you're at home and it's 10 o'clock the night of the deadline, the likelihood of making a mistake increases based on your stress level."

Last year, the IRS found mistakes in 20 percent of the tax returns filed, he said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137