They’re true to form

Gaye Sutter made a 70-mile round trip from Mead to Coeur d’Alene Monday to pick up an Idaho State income tax form.

She wasn’t a tax procrastinator. “I’m doing ‘Good Mom’ duty,” Sutter explained.

The tax form was for her 20-year-old daughter, Meagan, a Spokane Community College student who works at Red Lobster in Coeur d’Alene. Over the weekend, Meagan realized that she needed to file Idaho as well as federal income tax forms. That’s how her mom ended up at the state tax commission’s informational booth on Northwest Boulevard Monday morning, clutching a copy of her daughter’s federal 1040 EZ form.

The state tax form took just a few minutes to complete. But Gaye Sutter had to drive it back to Mead for her daughter’s signature.

Monday was D-Day for thousands of last-minute tax filers in the Inland Northwest. People waited in line at IRS field offices, poured into H&R Block with their W-2s, or sought free tax assistance. A two-day grace period, the result of April 15 falling on a Saturday, didn’t appear to put a dent in the lines.

“Procrastinators are born procrastinators. They’re never going to change,” said Bill Young, a volunteer with Tax-Aide. The free tax-assistance service, located upstairs from the IRS office in Spokane’s federal building, helped prepare 18 returns in four hours Monday. “It was all kinds of crazy stuff,” Young said.

One individual hadn’t filed a tax return since 2001; others brought in incomplete information. Lisa Boyles, who used Tax-Aide help to complete her form Monday afternoon, just didn’t see the point of filing early. “It’s nothing exciting,” she said.

According to IRS estimates, 135 million individual tax returns will be filed this year. About 25 percent of all returns trickle in during the last days and hours before the filing deadline.

Even the ease of e-filing “hasn’t changed procrastination,” said Judy Monahan, an IRS spokeswoman in Seattle. “Apparently, it’s with us to stay.”

Mark Neustel normally isn’t a last-minute guy. But since the Air Force called him back to active duty, the aircraft mechanic hasn’t been home to Coeur d’Alene much. Neustel spent four months in Kurdistan last year and he’s currently stationed at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma. He came home for the weekend to do taxes. Part of his deduction: 40.5 cents per mile for some of his trips back and forth to Tacoma.

Larry Tolson, in line at the Spokane IRS office, was among 9.6 million Americans who filed for an extension for their 2005 taxes. “I’m still waiting for my W-2s,” Tolson explained. He moved several times in the past year, and mail from his address changes hasn’t caught up with him yet.

But getting a filing extension doesn’t mean an extension for payments, noted the IRS’ Monahan. If you owe taxes, the IRS will charge a 7 percent interest from April 17 until the taxes are paid, she said.

At the Idaho State Tax Commission office, where Sutter picked up the form for her daughter, office manager Diana Nottage expected to see 150 to 200 last-minute filers on Monday. The staff set up a tent on the lawn outside the office and all 18 staff members took turns working it. They answered questions and accepted completed forms until 7 p.m. There was even drive-by service for people who didn’t want to get out of their vehicles.

“It makes a really tough day a fun day,” Nottage said. “People are stressed to the max, trying to make copies, find forms and get the stuff in the mail…This lightens it up.”

Larry Frowick, who runs a tax preparation service in Hayden, also tries to take the stress out of tax day for his clients. He tries to get them to schedule appointments early in the year, to avoid the last-minute scramble.

Frowick mailed out a handful of extensions on Monday, plus a few returns. But he planned to leave his office, Frowick Financial Services, by 6 p.m.

For the most part, “I’ve got them trained,” Frowick said of his clients.