All Over Albany

Last chance Albany post office tax day 2013

On the cemetery side of the mall.

Hello, tax day procrastinators. Hello, people desperately searching Google. Hello, people who just decided they would get to when they got to it -- and that time is now. The last chance post office for mailing your taxes in the Capital Region is...

The Colonie Center post office, at 1425 Central Ave. It closes at 8 pm tonight, its usual time.

Yep, the Capital Region has a new last-chance mail drop. For years the post office of last resort was at the mail processing center at 30 Karner Road. But that location has been rolling back its tax day closing time. In 2010, it was midnight. In 2011, it was 10 pm. In 2012, it was 8:30 pm. And this year: 7 pm -- just an hour later than its usual closing time.

As the post office has been rolling back the tax day closing time, the number of people who file electronically has boomed. As of early April, 89 percent of returns for this tax season had been filed electronically. [IRS]

Bonus bits: Last-minute filing tips from the IRS and USPS.

Last chance post office tax day 2012

Enabling procrastination less this year.

2013 update: This is no longer the last-chance post office. It's now at Colonie Center.

Hello, tax day procrastinators desperately searching Google for the last post office open in the Capital Region.

The answer, as usual: the post office at 30 Karner Road in Colonie, which is attached to a mail processing facility. But the deadline has been rolled back yet again this year. That location will only be open until 8:30 pm this year.

As late as 2010, the Karner Road location was open until midnight on tax day. And then last year its closing time was rolled back to 10 pm. And it's been rolled back another 1.5 hours this year.

Why? Electronic filing. The e-filing rate is now 77 percent for individuals -- up from 16 percent in the mid-1990s. (And with good reason -- it's way easier than printing all the forms out and mailing them.) [IRS]

Bonus last chance spot: The Colonie Center post office is open until 8 pm, its usual closing time.

Bonus bit: Last-minute filing tips from the IRS.