Update Wednesday 12:50 a.m.

The Riverton Post Office, 15250 32nd Ave. S. in SeaTac, seemed to resemble a busy, fast-food drive-up window as vehicles queued up to hand off their tax returns by Tuesday at midnight to two cheerful ladies standing by a metal rack of shelving containing envelopes for the IRS.

Concepcion Hermosillo, Manager, Customer Service, Riverton Post Office, and Louise Stafford, Manager, Customer Service Operations for Riverton and other locations, were cheerfully accepting envelopes from drivers, most of whom thanked them.

"I don't have any official numbers, but it seemed busier last year," Stafford observed. However, the stream of cars seemed to increase as midnight closed in. She said many drivers pulled up to her with their pets in the car.
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The Riverton Post Office in SeaTac has cut its hours in recent years but procrastinating 2011 income tax filers will be grateful to know that they can mail their return there up until midnight, Tuesday, April 17.

And the Internal Revenue Service won’t even consider it late.

The Riverton Station at 15250 32nd Ave. S. is the only post office in the Seattle area offering the tax-return postmark until midnight, Tuesday. The other nearest locations are in Tacoma and Everett.

The Postal Service reminds patrons that a 45-cent stamp covers the first ounce of the return envelope but each additional ounce requires an additional 20 cents.

April 15 is the traditional income tax deadline but this year that date falls on a Sunday.

The second extra day is courtesy of the other Washington. The District of Columbia is observing Emancipation Day on Monday, April 16. According to the feds, Washington D.C. holidays impact tax deadlines in the same way that federal holidays do.

If two bonus days are still not enough, hard-core procrastinators can request an extension until Oct. 15 to file their returns.