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Many who owe money wait until the deadline to file forms
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Oxnard 04/14/08: Juan Carlo / Star staff: Mark Wingland (cq) of Ventura uses the self-service to file his taxes at the US Post Office in Oxnard to avoid the line. The office will be open til-midnight for the last-minute filers.
Photos by Juan Carlo / Star staff Sabine Cardenas of Oxnard finishes addressing her tax returns just as she made it to the front of the line at the Oxnard Post Office, which stayed open until midnight.
Jaime Veloz of Oxnard, above, checks his taxes before mailing them at the Oxnard Post Office. Below, Mark Wingland of Ventura uses the self-service option to mail his tax returns.
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More from BusinessLast-minute tax filers waited in lines that ran out the door of the Oxnard Post Office on C Street on Tuesday.
Most people filing before the midnight deadline were doing so because they owe money.
Ventura tax preparer Janice Ryno said there were a lot more late filers this year.
"People say I'm going to owe money so why would I file early?" she said. "We say file early and just send the check the day before.
"The other reason is just peoples' lives are just so busy. They just put it aside and put it aside until it's too late."
Some people were filing this year just because they want to get their economic stimulus checks, Ryno said.
She had several people come in to have both their 2006 and 2007 returns done to trigger delivery of that check.
Payments from the economic stimulus package, going out to almost everyone filing a return, will be sent electronically or by mail beginning in early May.
Tax preparer Jeri Miller, who has an office in Simi Valley, had a fairly easy day Tuesday. She had four extensions to file, and she got them done in the morning.
She makes it a point not to take walk-ins on tax deadline day.
"The day's been very calm for me because yesterday I stayed until I had everything done," she said.
This tax filing season has gone relatively smoothly, according to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman.
He said the agency, which expects to process almost 140 million individual returns this year, has already issued 75 million refunds worth an average $2,436.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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