Mail those tax forms early and beat the rush!

Harrisburg, PA — With the deadline for filing income tax returns rapidly approaching, the Postal Service is bracing itself for the annual onslaught of last minute filers.

Postal customers can easily avoid a trip to the main Post Office by mailing their returns or extension requests early in the day at any of the Post Offices, stations, branches or collection boxes in their community. However, tax filers using a collection box should make certain that the posted pick-up time has not passed to ensure returns will receive the April 15 postmark.

The Postal Service offers the following advice to tax filers:

Try to mail as early in the day as possible.
Always include your return address on your mailpiece.
Be certain to weigh your returns or extension requests on a postal scale and affix the proper amount of postage. This is especially true if you are filing extra forms or schedules this year. Tax agencies will not pay postage due, so short-paid tax filings must be returned for additional postage. Ordinarily, that means you’ll miss the deadline.

Last minute tax filers can mail their tax return until 11:59:59 at eight locations on April 15, this year’s tax deadline, and still receive a postmark. Additionally, these Post Offices will offer extended retail window hours until 12 midnight on Tax Night. (Refer to attached listing).

Automated Postal Centers (APCs) are available at 19 area Post Offices. Using a debit or credit card, customers can use the APC to weigh and mail their tax returns or regular mail and packages 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, at most locations.

The Post Offices listed below will extend their retail window hours until midnight on April 15. Additionally, customers can mail their taxes at these locations until 11:59:59 p.m. on Tax Night and still receive an April 15 postmark. An asterisk denotes an office with an Automated Postal Center .

2009 April 15 Tax Night Extended Hours
Post Office/Location	Postmark	Window closes at:
East York Branch* 3435 Concord Road East York	Midnight	Midnight
Harrisburg Main Post Office* 1425 Crooked Hill Road Harrisburg	Midnight	Midnight
Lancaster Main Post Office* 1400 Harrisburg Pike Lancaster	Midnight	Midnight
Lehigh Valley Post Office* 17 South Commerce Way Lehigh Valley	Midnight	Midnight
Reading/Gus Yatron* 2100 North 13 TH Street Reading	Midnight	Midnight
Scranton Main Post Office* 2800 Stafford Avenue Scranton	Midnight	Midnight
Williamsport Main Post Office 2901 Reach Road Williamsport	Midnight	Midnight
Wilkes-Barre Main Post Office*	Midnight	Midnight

Additionally, Automated Postal Centers are located at these Post Offices:

Bethlehem, Chambersburg, Easton Palmer Branch, Gettysburg, Hanover, Lower Paxton Branch (Harrisburg), Mechanicsburg, Shillington, Reading Station, West York Branch (York), Whitehall and Wyomissing.

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Editor’s note: A list of Post Offices with midnight postmarks, extended hours and Automated Postal Centers (APCs) is attached.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.