State Tax Department extends hours for answering questions

Starting Saturday, the state Tax Department will extend the hours it answers taxpayers’ questions via telephone in advance of the April 18 deadline for filing income tax forms.

Tax Commissioner Jerry Boone announced Thursday that the department’s call center will be open 20 more hours over 10 days.

Questions will be answered between 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and until 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

The center can be reached by dialing 518-457-5181.

Boone said the center would handle more than 150,000 calls in the final two weeks of income tax filing season; 400,000 calls have already been received.

More information about filing income tax forms can be found at tax.ny.gov.