# Can't send off taxes until tomorrow - Big deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958 "2003-04-15T22:15:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/1 "2003-04-15T22:15:29Z")
Unfortunately I can’t put the envelope into the mail until the morning, due to bad foresight on my part. (left checks at home, won’t be home till late) I owe $16 bucks on my New York State taxes. Yep, but the whopper of a check won’t get sent till the morning. Should I even care? Will there be a fine? Will they even care? Should I be worried about the storm troopers beating down my door? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/2 "2003-04-15T22:23:59Z")
You may incur a fine. Many post offices are open until midnight tonight for this exact reason. Call you local one and find out. As long as the envelope is postmarked TODAY, you’re OK. It could be 11:59:59 April 15, 2003 and you’re in the clear. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/3 "2003-04-15T22:32:41Z")
Sadly the only office I could get to will be closed, so no doubt, the envelope will be going in the morning. Any idea what type of fine I might be looking at? Does anyone think that with millions of envelopes pouring in they’ll eve notice? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/4 "2003-04-15T22:35:02Z")
[NYS Late Filing Penalties](http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pit/penalties.htm) Luckily for you, they all seem to be percentage based. ---
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/5 "2003-04-15T22:39:00Z")
Damn it!!! thanks for the reminder - now I gots to find one of them open late post offices! oh well nice day for a ride ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/6 "2003-04-15T22:45:26Z")
Thanks, one last question. Should I make the check out to $16 +%5? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/7 "2003-04-15T22:46:51Z")
Most envelopes that arrive around the correct date are not even checked to see if they’re marked the 15th or the 16th. They probably won’t notice. Cecil addresses this fascinating subject [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a960405.html). > [@](#): > > Dear D.: > > It seems vaguely treasonous to be telling you this, but you’re right: It doesn’t really matter if you file your return a day or two late. > > Forty percent of U.S. taxpayers–40 million people–don’t file their returns until the last week. For the first few days after April 15 the IRS is still getting truckloads of returns. An IRS spokesman candidly admits there’s no way they can go through all that paperwork ferreting out schnooks who filed their returns 15 minutes or even a couple of days late. (I imagine the same is true for state taxes.) ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/8 "2003-04-15T22:59:15Z")
Sweet. $16 bucks in the mail, first thing in the morning, _I swear!_ Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/9 "2003-04-15T23:13:09Z")
They won’t do anything. All this exactitude around matters that relate to the IRS is, I am driven to surmise, just a heritage we carry with us of our paranoid suspicion and fear of the jackboot in Washington, and is really ridiculous. Just pop it in the mailbox when you get to it–don’t wait for months, however. ---
**Author:** ![Riboflavin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Riboflavin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riboflavin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-send-off-taxes-until-tomorrow-big-deal/168958/10 "2003-04-16T04:12:49Z")
Or, if you run into a problem finishing them, file an extension. There’s a simple form you can print and send in; you do have to estimate tax and try to pay some percentage of what you owe, but you can get 4 months (federal, state varies) without needing a justification. You should also be able to get by with the ‘about the right time’ bit (for anyone who’s pulling out their hair over missing paperwork right now) and avoid any serious problems if you’re a normal taxpayer. (If you haven’t had tax witheld for the year and put off filing, interest and penalites can be severe even if you do things properly). That really saved me a lot of stress one year when I discoved that I had misplaced pretty much all of my tax records on 4/15. I panicked and worried about all kinds of dire consequences, then a friend mentioned filing an extension. I guessed a tax amount based on my pay stub, and my dire consequences ended up being a ~ $3 interest charge.