Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Only Hours Left Until Tax Deadline

Aired April 16, 2001 - 09:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The hours and the minutes are ticking down toward the tax deadline at midnight tonight. The IRS estimates nearly 26 million of you have yet to file.

CNN's Patty Davis has the latest from an IRS help center in Washington -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Leon. This IRS help center a little slow today. You can see maybe seven people behind me waiting in line here for help at this help center in Washington, D.C. But it was standing room only on Friday and Saturday.

Now we're joined by IRS spokesman Sam Seiro.

I understand I can actually come in here today, only a few hours left, and have my taxes filed for me. You actually will do them for me.

SAM SEIRO, IRS: Absolutely. And we've been doing it all year. It's mainly for moderate- to low-income people under, say, $41,000 or so, without business schedules and without investment schedules, and we'll prepare these returns for free.

DAVIS: Now is there any cost -- you said it's free. Absolutely free.

SEIRO: Oh, it's absolutely free.

DAVIS: What if I want to electronically file? Can I do that here as well for free?

SEIRO: We're doing that here today. We're filing electronically for free.

DAVIS: Now I understand that people also are coming in asking questions, and -- and IRS people will answer those. What are you hearing? What's the most-asked question here -- or questions -- that -- that people are coming in and asking on this last day?

SEIRO: Well, this weekend, of course, it's been, "How do I get an extension? How do I get more time?" And you get that -- you get an automatic four-month extension, no excuses needed, by filing a Form 4868. But new this year is you can grab that form here or pull it off of our Web site at irs.gov and file by phone. It's a toll-free number, 1-888-796-1074. You can call that number and give a few figures so we can identify you, like your Social Security, and you get that automatic extension. You don't have to run to the post office at midnight.

DAVIS: Now you've been with the IRS for a long time. Why is that people wait until the last minute to file like this?

SEIRO: Well, the 20 percent or so that are waiting until the last day -- we think they're just like the people, myself included, who were the last minute filing their term papers in college and graduate school. It's -- it's just a -- some people it's tradition, by the way. They're not just -- they're not procrastinating. It's tradition. They like going to the post office. By the way, we'll be at a lot of area post offices throughout the country helping people prepare returns from 6:00 to midnight. So call your local post office and see if there's any open in your area.

DAVIS: OK. Thanks a lot. Sam Seiro, IRS spokesman.

Serious business here at the IRS, but they are doing everything they can to make sure that those who want to file by the deadline can do so -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right. Thanks Patty. We'll get back to you later on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com