With the April 15 deadline fast approaching for filing 2014 taxes, postal and tax professionals urge taxpayers to get them in.

If mailing a tax return on Wednesday, be sure to do so early enough to meet the scheduled pick-up time and ensure a postmark before the midnight deadline.

Vicksburg’s United States Postal Service Postmaster Bobby James said there is always a surge of activity at the post office near the April 15 deadline.

“The 14th and 15th are the worst days,” he said. “It’s going to be really heavy tomorrow.”

James said the Vicksburg Post Office will observe normal business hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

“We’ll be here waiting on them,” he said. “Get them postmarked by the 15th.”

Math errors and other mistakes are common on paper returns, especially those prepared or filed in haste at the last minute.

Advance Professional Tax LLC manager Andrew House said he advises people not try to wait until the 15th.

“If you don’t get it postmarked by the 15th, they’ll usually send you your refund back intact,” he said. “They’ll usually give you one or two days, especially with weekends, but if people are going to take longer than that they really need to go ahead and file for an extension.”

House said there are a number of online resources that have made filing taxes yourself easier than ever in addition to numerous tax professionals located in Vicksburg.

With the rush to file taxes before the deadline, taxpayers should be on the lookout for scams.

Retired realtor Pat Ring warns he was solicited by an attempted IRS scam recently.

“It’s a phone call,” he said. “The IRS doesn’t call you; they send you multiple letters.”

The automated message from the phone call requests the recipient call their hotline at 415-234-0491.

The Internal Revenue Service has offered taxpayers still working on their 2014 taxes a number of tips designed to help them avoid common errors that could delay their refunds or cause other tax problems in the future.

First and foremost, the IRS encouraged taxpayers to file electronically. Doing so, whether through e-file or IRS Free File, vastly reduces tax return errors, as the tax software does the calculations, flags common errors and prompts taxpayers for missing information. And best of all, there is a free option for everyone.

Whether filing electronically or on paper, be sure to make a copy of the return.

Avoid a late-filing penalty by requesting a tax-filing extension. While an extension grants additional time to file, tax payments are still due April 15.

For further help and resources, check out the IRS Services Guide.

 

The Associated Press also contributed to this report.