America’s most tax-procrastinating cities

April 15, 2009

If you've put off filing your tax return until today, you might live in San Francisco.

Or Houston, New York, Chicago or San Diego.

Tax deadline (2) Those were the five U.S. cities with the most residents who last year put off their annual tax chores. Or at least who put off e-filing their returns using TurboTax.

For the last eight years, the tax preparation software company has tallied the number of last-minute returns it gets through its online filing option.

Last April, the Golden Gate City had the most procrastinators. That's four slots higher than it ranked the previous year.

Here's the Top 10 list, with the city's prior-year ranking in parentheses:

  1. San Francisco (5)
  2. Houston (3)
  3. New York (2)
  4. Chicago (1)
  5. San Diego (6)
  6. Phoenix (13)
  7. Seattle (7)
  8. Los Angeles (10)
  9. Dallas (11)
10. Las Vegas (8)

To make room for newcomers (latecomers?) Phoenix and Dallas, two Texas cities fell off the list this year: San Antonio and my burg, Austin.

The Lone Star State's capital is hanging in there at #11, but my neighbors to the South apparently got their tax acts together last year. They didn't made the top 20.

Rounding out that extended list are:

11. Austin
12. Atlanta
13. Portland, Ore.
14. Philadelphia
15. Washington, D.C.
16. Orlando
17. Denver
18. Charlotte
19. Tampa
20. Indianapolis

As San Antonio proves, just because your city was full of slow filers one year, that doesn't mean everyone is tardy again the next filing season.

But I thought all of us April 15 filers would like to know where our tax soul mates live.

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Comments
  • Last Minute Filers: The San Francisco Treat

    Maybe its the sunshine that makes folks in San Francisco put off filing until the last minute Whatever it is, San Fran topped the list of cities with the most residents stalling until the very.last.second to do their taxes.
    Which cities …

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