Photo by Philipe Cosores
Going to a music festival takes a lot of planning. There’s figuring out camping gear, travel arrangements, packing lists. Thanks to its timing, Coachella comes with an extra thing to consider: Taxes. Today, the 18th, is the US tax deadline, which falls immediately after the first weekend of Coachella. You’d think festivalgoers would make sure to get their obligation to the IRS out of the way before giving in to Calvin Harris and Guns N’ Roses, but it seems some folks tried to use the festival’s “post office” to mail their official tax documents.
According to The Orange County Register, at least 10 people tried to send their taxes from the Lincoln Log cabin post office on the Coachella grounds. “No, I can’t ‘just take it’,” Megan Hampton, Coachella’s post-master, said. “How do they have their taxes here? I don’t know.”
Because the on-site post office functions more as an intermediary between the grounds and the actual Indio post office than a true USPS location, Hampton can’t legally take anyone’s taxes. The installation is more about mailing Coachella post cards to friends and family, or shipping large purchases back home. Still, the occasional odd envelope does make it through.
“Someone dropped off wedding invitations last year that were already stamped,” Hampton, who has run the post office for the last two years, said. “They wanted it to say Coachella on it.”
Having your wedding invites stamped “Coachella” is cute; having your tax returns stamped “Coachella” is a good way to get audited.
