Hawaii post offices offer Tax Day late collections

LIHUE – A total of 27 post offices across the state will offer late collection of mail from specially marked collection boxes on federal Tax Day, Tuesday, to accommodate last-minute filers of federal tax returns.

People have until April 17 to file their 2017 returns and pay any taxes due. The filing tax deadline is later this year due to several factors. The usual April 15 deadline falls on Sunday this year, which would normally give taxpayers until at least the following Monday. However, Emancipation Day, a Washington, D.C., holiday, is observed on Monday, April 16, giving taxpayers nationwide an additional day to file.

All post offices in Hawaii will be closing at their regular times on Tax Day. The airport post office in Honolulu will be the last to close — at 8 p.m. — on that night, and will be the best bet for last-second Oahu customers who need to purchase stamps or special services.

Post offices will have blue collection boxes or in-wall mail slots labeled with special bright orange signs indicating Tax Mail Drop – Final Pick-Up Midnight. Tax forms with correct postage deposited in those specially designated boxes and slots by midnight will receive April 17 postmarks.

Collection boxes and post office lobby drops at all other post offices will be collected only at their regular posted times on April 17.

The only post office on Kauai offering the late collection is the Lihue main post office.

Due to the declining numbers of citizens who submit hard-copy tax returns by mail, the U.S. Postal Service no longer extends its retail hours of operation or provides curbside service to last-second filers of tax mail at its drive-by collection boxes.

According to the IRS, more than 92 percent of tax returns filed nationwide so far this year have been submitted electronically.