Tax Deadline No Longer a Taxing Evening at Oklahoma City's
Mail Processing Center

Postal Service Eliminates April 15 Street side Collection of Tax Returns

Oklahoma City OK — Metro area residents who insisted on waiting until the midnight hour to mail their tax returns at Oklahoma City's Mail Processing Center at 320 SW 5th Street, will no doubt recall a time when April 15 was a sensational event. For years, there was heavy traffic, television and radio stations broadcast live from mobile units parked on the sidewalk in front of the building, clever marketers supplied one free postage stamp, pizza, Snickers or Pay Day candy bars to mailers, city police provided traffic control and postal employees, wearing orange vests, collected last minute tax returns street side.

All of those conditions are a thing of the past in Oklahoma City.

"For the past several years, April 15 customer traffic at Oklahoma City's old Main Post Office has steadily declined," says J. Larry Flener, Communications Specialist for the Oklahoma District of the U. S. Postal Service. "Customers are mailing their returns earlier in the tax season and earlier in the day, avoiding the last minute rush for services at the site. Moreover, the very sophisticated high-speed mail processing equipment in use today eliminates the need to collect and separate federal and state returns on the street. This high-tech equipment actually requires fewer resources to do the same job."

Flener said there are some things that haven't changed:

• The Postal Service's commitment to accommodate tax filers with an April 15 postmark on their returns.
• The need to use correct postage on returns; neither the Internal Revenue Service nor the Oklahoma Tax Commission will pay postage due fees for tax returns.
• The need to use a complete and accurate mailing address and return address on all mail.
• The need, on April 15 and every day, to carefully observe the last posted collection times on blue collection boxes to ensure the mail gets to the mail processing center that day.

Oklahomans should consider mailing their federal and state tax returns before the Tuesday, April 15 deadline. For those who do wait until the last minute, the following service provisions will be available:

• The drive up collection boxes on Hudson and Fifth Streets at the Oklahoma City Processing and Distribution Center, 320 SW 5th Street, will be collected hourly until midnight on April 15. No retail services are provided at this location, only stamp vending.
• Center City Station, 305 NW 5th Street will collect tax returns and provide full retail services until 9:00 p.m.
• The Air Mail Facility, 6500 Air Cargo Rd., will provide full service retail and the collection of tax returns until midnight.

Some additional reminders:

• For security purposes, any piece of mail (regardless of dimensions) weighing over 13 ounces must be handed to a postal clerk; it cannot be deposited in a blue collection box even when correct postage is affixed.
• The shape of your return matters. The current postal pricing system is based on the shape of mail, not just the weight, reflecting the fact that the costs for handling letters, large envelopes and packages differs. Customers can reduce their mailing costs simply by choosing different packaging. For example, if the contents of a First Class Mail large envelope are folded and placed in a letter-sized envelope, customers can reduce postage by as much as 39 cents per piece. If the contents of a First Class Mail package are laid out to fit into a large envelope, customers can save 33 cents per piece.
• Use the Postal Service website at www.usps.com to help you choose the products and services that best suit your mailing needs.

When you mail your taxes with the U.S Postal Service®, you enjoy the benefits of the "timely mailing as timely filing/paying" rule for tax returns and payments. As long as your return is postmarked by April 15, the IRS considers your return to be filed on time.