Tax Day Deadline

(Memphis) Unless you’ve filed for an extension, today is the last day to get your taxes turned in to the IRS.

Taxpayers were given two extra days to file their taxes this year.

But for some folks, those two extra days only added to the anxiety of filing a tax return this year.

At the IRS office in downtown Memphis, it was a race to beat the clock and the taxman’s deadline.

Memphian Venessa Hill says the tax deadline brings on a lot of stress, “Yea, and it’s a headache.”

Everyone in the IRS office sat silently, clutching important forms and waiting for assistance.

It’s the inevitable “last-minute crunch” IRS workers were waiting for.

But Debra Pointer, an IRS Senior Tax Consultant, says this year is busier than expected, “Some people just procrastinate. Others feel like they may owe. And if they owe taxes,they want to wait till the last-minute to pay.”

Debra Pointer says errors in math, not having the required forms and overstating expenses continue to be some of the biggest mistakes made by those filing “paper” returns.

That’s why the Government believes electronic filing is the best way to go.

It supports the AARP’s Tax-Aide program which is geared to seniors and persons with low to moderate incomes.

One of the filing spots is the Benjamin Hooks Central Library, where every return is electronically filed and quality checked.

Memphian McClain Redmond says the service is fast, ”It only took me about twenty minutes to have it filed. Now I’m waiting for it to be rechecked and I hope I’m out of here.”

But tax preparer Ron Wiggins, the southwest Tennessee coordinator for AARP’s Tax-Aide, says people still make some crucial last-minute mistakes,

“People that wait till the last-minute frequently don’t have all the forms or don’t have their file organized. So they’re scrambling at the last-minute.”