COEUR d'ALENE - Taxpayers have until Monday to file annual returns, a three-day cushion beyond the familiar April 15 deadline. This change likely will ease the stress on individuals and professional tax preparers.

"It should go a lot smoother this year," said Ninette Goucher, a certified public accountant at Magnuson, McHugh and Co., in Coeur d'Alene. "We won't have the mad rush like normal on the 15th. It's giving everyone more time to tie up those loose ends."

Idaho is following the federal income tax due date, which moved to Monday because the April 15 deadline falls on a legal holiday, Emancipation Day, which is observed in Washington, D.C.

April 18 also is the payment deadline for taxpayers to qualify for an automatic filing extension. Those who qualify must file their return by Oct. 17.

Those waiting until the last moment to complete their returns typically owe the government money, said Renee Eymann, a spokeswoman for the Idaho State Tax Commission.

Naturally, many of those that get money back filed early, she said.

The Internal Revenue Service anticipates receiving 140 million individual tax returns this year.

Eymann said 75 percent to 80 percent of people filing tax returns this year will do so online.

Some older filers and people without computer access make up the remainder, she said.

If a tax return is filled out on paper and mailed, taxpayers must mail paperwork separately to the Idaho commission and the IRS, she said.

State tax returns can be dropped off until close of business Monday at the commission's Coeur d'Alene office, located at 1910 Northwest Blvd.

"We don't do walk-in service in Coeur d'Alene," she said.

A toll free number for Idaho tax questions is available at (800) 972-7660. Information from the commission is available from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eymann said.

The best bet for getting tax forms is online at www.tax.idaho.gov/, she said.