EASTHAMPTON — With just hours to the deadline to file federal income taxes Tuesday, some tax preparation services were serving clients up until the last minute.

At the Liberty Tax Service, 53 Union St., Easthampton, tax specialist Saqib Tasneem was keeping the doors open until midnight.

Outside the storefront, Tasneem’s daughters, Alishba and Aleena, both dressed up as the Statue of Liberty to promote the business. They stood outside the storefront, holding signs and waving at people passing by.

An inflatable waving tube man in front of the shop, which opened in February, has grown in popularity over Facebook as many people posted videos, which Tasneem said has brought in a lot of customers. Somehow the inflatable man even acquired the name “Frank.”

Inside, James Low, 23, of Easthampton, sat with Tasneem.

Low started filing his taxes back in February. He said at first he was supposed to owe about $700, but that didn’t seem right.

Over the past two months, he collected documents for student loans and other expenses to claim on this taxes.

On Tuesday, Tasneem told Low his refund was over $1,600.

“I feel like I won the lottery,” Low said.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the average refund is $2,851.

Tasneem had about five people trickle in during the day and about seven appointments set up.

But after about 5 p.m., Tasneem said, “it should be crazy” as many of his clients just need to sign the remaining documents.

The IRS estimates it will receive approximately 12 million 2016 federal income tax returns and nearly 8.4 million extension requests in the final days of filing season.

Over in Hadley, Karen Henell of Henell Tax & Business Services said Tax Day is hectic, and she expects to be in the office until midnight, although many of her clients send tax information over email.

Henell said while many people file extensions, she still has to calculate the refund or payment amount by deadline.

For those curious about where their tax money is going, the National Priorities Project based in Northampton released a “to-the-penny” breakdown of how the federal government spent income tax money paid by individuals in 2016.

More than a quarter of the tax dollar went to health care and 23.4 cents went to the Pentagon and military, according the NPP.

Interest on federal debt was 13.2 cents, unemployment and labor was 7.5 cents and veterans benefits was 6 cents, the NPP says.

One cent went to science. Less than 3 cents went to education. About 4 cents went to the government.

“Individual taxpayers’ income taxes are the largest source of federal revenues every year — which means individuals are the primary billpayer of the federal government,” NPP’s research director, Lindsay Koshgarian, said in a news release. “We deserve to know where our tax dollars are going, and we have a responsibility to act on that information by participating in the political process.”

Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.

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