Taxpayers, the Clock Is Ticking

By Kathy M. Kristof

April 15, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Haven’t filed a 2004 federal income tax return yet?

You’ve got a few hours left -- and plenty of company. As of last week, the Internal Revenue Service was still waiting for about 43 million returns, or just under 30% of the expected total.

Many of those are returns from taxpayers who owe money and want to avoid writing Uncle Sam a check as long as possible. But many people simply procrastinate.

A recent poll by Yahoo Finance found that 14% of Americans planned to wait until today before filling out their tax return.

“Taxes are like dentistry,” said John Voelcker, a tax expert at Yahoo Finance in Sunnyvale, Calif. “Everybody knows that they have to do it, but they’re afraid it’s going to hurt.”

Now that the deadline is hours away, procrastinators need to gather their records, clear some time and get down to business, he added.

That’s particularly important for those pen-and-ink taxpayers, who will find that far fewer postal workers will be staying up late to accommodate them.

Two years ago, 28 Southern California post offices were open until midnight. This year, only 13 will be open till midnight to stamp that April 15 postmark, U.S. Postal Service spokesman Larry Dozier said. (In Santa Barbara County, the Goleta post office will be open till 8 p.m.).

Taxes prepared at the eleventh hour tend to have an unusually high number of errors, experts say. Here are some tips to avoid making costly mistakes:

* Double-check Social Security data. Make sure both names and Social Security numbers of taxpayers and dependents precisely match what the Social Security Administration has on file, said Char De Coster, a spokeswoman for the National Assn. of Tax Professionals. Mismatches can cause the IRS to disallow deductions and credits related to that individual. Can that be fixed later? Sure, but it will require resubmitting the corrected information to the IRS.

* Get the numbers right. The IRS will fix bad arithmetic, but if you transpose a number from a 1099 to the return -- claiming $102 in dividend income instead of the $201 reported, for instance -- it often triggers a correspondence audit. Whenever the information on a return doesn’t match information provided to the IRS by a bank, broker or mutual fund company, the IRS sends out a letter and error notice. The taxpayer must respond and fix the error or risk triggering a dreaded in-person audit.

* Take time to itemize. Last-minute filers are prone to take the standard deduction because they figure they don’t have time to itemize, Voelcker said. But that can cause taxpayers to pay significantly more than they should, he said. If you don’t have time to dig up receipts for itemized deductions before Friday, consider filing for an extension -- Form 4868 -- which allows an extra four months to file.

A filing extension, however, does not give taxpayers more time to pay. Those who owe must send a check for the estimated amount with the extension form.

* Don’t forget to sign. Returns must be dated and signed -- and joint returns must be signed by both spouses -- to be accepted.

* Keep a copy -- and receipts. The burden of proving that a return was filed is on the taxpayer, not the IRS. So keep a copy of both the return and any tax records that might be required to substantiate deductions.

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Resources for filers

In-person tax help

There are numerous Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites operating today for low-income and elderly filers. To find a nearby office, call the AARP hotline at (888) 227-7669 or the Los Angeles-based Earned Income Tax Credit Campaign Partnership hotline at (800) 601-5552. The IRS also has several taxpayer assistance centers open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. Here are the locations:

* El Monte: 9350 Flair Drive

* Long Beach: 501 W. Ocean Blvd.

* Los Angeles: 300 N. Los Angeles St.

* Van Nuys: 6230 Van Nuys Blvd.

* Camarillo: 751 Daily Drive (closes at 4:30 p.m.)

Phone assistance

* Federal: (800) 829-1040

* California: (800) 852-5711

Forms

Many public libraries and post offices stock commonly used tax forms. Forms and publications can be downloaded directly from the IRS at www.irs.gov. Go to the search button and type in a keyword to find the form or publication you need. California tax forms can be found online at www.ftb.ca.gov.

Electronic filing

The IRS and 20 software services, including industry leaders H&R; Block Inc. and Intuit Inc., maker of the Turbo Tax program, will provide free online filing to certain taxpayers. Qualifications vary from service to service, and about 4 million taxpayers have filed through the Free File program this year. To see whether you qualify, go to www.irs.gov and click on “Free File.”

Late-night mailing

The following post offices will be open today till midnight:

* Los Angeles International Airport area: 9029 Airport Blvd.

* Marina del Rey: 13031 Jefferson Blvd.

* South Los Angeles: 7101 S. Central Ave.

* Long Beach: 2300 Redondo Ave.

* San Gabriel Valley: 15421 Gale Ave., City of Industry

* San Fernando Valley: 15791 Sherman Way, Van Nuys

* Pasadena: 600 Lincoln Ave.

* Santa Ana: 3101 W. Sunflower Ave. and 2201 N. Grand Ave.

* San Bernardino County: 1900 W. Redlands Road

* Victorville: 1633 Greentree Blvd.