The State - News from April 26, 1985

About a million more California and Hawaii taxpayers waited until the last minute to file their federal income tax returns this year than last, Internal Revenue Service officials said. Last week, more than 5 million tax returns, compared to 4 million returns for the same period last year, poured into the Fresno IRS Center, which processes returns for the two states, Marty Gomez, IRS spokesman, said. As of April 19, the center had received 10,013,000 1984 returns, compared to 9,592,000 at the same time last year. So far, about 6.4 million returns have been processed, compared to 6.7 million last year. In addition, more than 4.2 million refunds, totaling more than $3.7 billion, have been issued. The average refund is $894.83, Gomez said. IRS officials predict that they will have all refund returns processed by May 30.