SCV TAX PROCRASTINATORS WILL FACE DRIVE FOR LATE FILE.

Byline: CAROL ROCK Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Some traditions are really hard to break.

Turning around three times before batting. Telling someone to "break a leg" at the theater. Or filing tax returns at the very last minute.

Never mind the generous two-day extension granted because April 15 falls on a Saturday this year. Returns must be filed by midnight Monday.

"For some people, that's just how they do their taxes," said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Rich Maher. "It's like the people who shop after work on Christmas Eve, they like filing at five minutes to midnight on the last day."

In the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, those traditionalists will have to do a bit of driving to file their returns, because no post offices remain open until midnight any longer on tax day. Procrastinators will have to travel to the Van Nuys main post office at 15701 Sherman Way.

According to Maher, 68 percent of 2005's returns have already been e-filed, creating a small dip in the postal service's business. "Mailing returns creates a lot of work and it's not a big revenue generator. After all, it's really only two envelopes.

"I can remember about 10 years ago when we had an excess of 50 offices in the L.A. Basin open until midnight. In Orange County, we had 15 offices open until recently, now we've only got two."

A change to the California Revenue and Taxation Code, effective Jan. 1, 2004, requires that any tax professional who prepares 100 or more returns is required to e-file returns.

Late filers are the norm for Newhall accountant Michael Daney, whose last-minute customers are getting extension forms for their procrastination.

"It's getting really busy, we've had five or six people come in this morning," said Pat Daney, his wife and assistant. "He takes their information and files an extension because he just can't finish their returns in time when they wait this long."

Pat Daney said that many of their former procrastinators have turned around once e-filing became available.

"They get their refunds so much faster; now they're the ones who are in the last week in January," she said. "Some of our older clients are less likely to use e-filing because they're a little suspicious of the Internet. They think people can go in and get their information."

Ann Watts, a volunteer tax aide at the Santa Clarita Senior Center, said that a little reassurance - and the promise of quicker refunds - was all it took to convince clients to go with e-filing.

"We tell them they don't have to mail anything, they don't have to get a stamp, and if they're really resistant, we show them how to opt out, but most of the time it's not a problem. They just want a hard copy to look at and once we give them that, they're fine."

In 2005, the Internal Revenue Service processed 133 million returns. When electronic filing became available in 1986, 25,000 returns were filed. That number jumped to 68.5 million returns in 2005, or 52 percent of all returns filed.

For those who choose to ignore e-file's siren call, a dozen post office locations will remain open until midnight Monday, including Van Nuys, Pasadena, South Los Angeles, the LAX area, Long Beach, Industry, Goleta/Santa Barbara, Oxnard and two each in Bakersfield and Orange County. For exact locations call (800) ASK-USPS (275-8777). For tax information, visit the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov.

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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