By DCist Contributor Matt Pelkey

Taxes. Yeah, we said it. Taxes, taxes, taxes, taxes.

Nobody wants to think about them, nobody wants talk about them, but over the next two weeks, D.C.’s procrastinators will all be doing them.

Luckily, the Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) will once again prepare your D.C. individual income tax returns for free, and today it added three and a half hours to its work day for the next two weeks to help you file your taxes on time.

Now through April 17, OTR’s office on the first floor of 941 North Capitol Street, NE, offers free D.C. tax preparation from 8:15 a.m. to 8 p.m. Just bring your completed federal tax return, W-2 forms and schedules, a valid ID, and a willingness to “expect a short wait” while they prepare your taxes.

OTR also provides telephone assistance for the befuddled taxpayer — 202-727-4TAX. But fair warning, the two-minute wait for a representative I was promised turned into eight and a half minutes on hold before I hung up without speaking to anyone.

Neither in-house tax preparation nor telephone assistance is offered on weekends, which could make it difficult for those of us who tend to work late Monday through Friday. OTR also does not prepare federal tax returns, so TurboTax need not fear imminent bankruptcy — though don’t forget, if your Adjusted Gross Income was $52,000 or less last year, you can file a federal return for free online.

Remember, taxes are due on April 17 this year, thanks to D.C.’s celebration of Emancipation Day on April 16 (don’t forget to march for Voting Rights). The holiday threw off the meticulous pencil pushers at the IRS, who instructed taxpayers to file by April 16. (The official April 15 filing deadline gets pushed back until the next business day if it falls on a weekend or a holiday.) The IRS apparently overlooked Emancipation Day and released documents incorrectly listing the filing deadline as April 16. It later posted a correction on its Web site.

Photo by wallyg