Ellwood Station in Goleta to Offer Longer Hours for Tax Filers

The Ellwood Station is located at 400 Storke Road, Goleta and will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17, 2012.

Because April 15, 2012 falls on a Sunday and Monday, April 16 is a holiday in Washington DC, this year tax day, or the last day to file your 2011 federal and state tax forms without requesting an extension, is Tuesday, April 17, 2012. All tax filers are urged to plan well in advance of April 17, or they risk missing the midnight deadline.

All other Post Offices in the Santa Barbara area will be open normal hours. Hours of operation for individual Post Offices can be found by visiting USPS.com or calling 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777).

Waiting until the last minute is usually not a good idea. Rushing can cause mistakes and the most common errors Americans make are not including enough postage and not providing the correct IRS mailing address. Other common mistakes according to the IRS: Social Security Numbers are wrong or left off, math errors and forgetting to attach forms and schedules, i.e., W-2s, 1099s, etc.

To help ensure a successful tax season for our customers we offer the following tax mailing tips:

• Apply proper postage and stamps, especially with extra forms/schedules. It costs 45 cents for the first ounce; 20 cents for each additional ounce. (One ounce is about four pages).
• 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 the IRS should mail it using Certified Mail Service/Return Receipt, which is available at your local Post Office.
• While encouraged to mail before April 17, if you do wait until late on Tax Day be sure to drop off your tax mail return at a Postal Service location that offers late tax mail pick-up.