No excuses: Friday is the deadline for procrastinating PFD applicants

More than half a million applications have been filed with the state for this year's Permanent Fund dividend checks – but Alaskans who haven't filed have only until Friday to do so.

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Division's website counted 503,384 applications filed online. That showing – markedly ahead of the pace Alaskans were setting in mid-February – is an improvement over this time last year, according to division operations manager Anne Weske.

[ Haven't applied for your Permanent Fund dividend yet? Get it done, state says. ]

"We are almost 10,000 ahead of that," Weske said. "That's great – it means 10,000 less procrastinators."

One important reminder for last-minute online filers: Make sure you get a confirmation number, indicating the completed filing of your application, before midnight strikes Friday. Weske said the online filing system shuts down promptly at that hour, and 50 to 100 applications still in progress at midnight get rejected each year.

"That's a really sad moment for those people," Weske said. "There's really no excuse and no legislative exemption that lets you come to us and say, 'Hey, I got kicked out.' "

She emphasized that although online applications require either a digital or a handwritten signature, signatures aren't needed to meet Friday's filing deadline.

"The signature is not due by March 31," Weske said. "You can print off the signature page, sign it and mail it in."

The division is also on track to receive about 80,000 paper applications, which must be picked up from locations statewide and sent to P.O. Box 110642, Juneau 99811. Mailed applications must be postmarked by March 31, but Weske said the division receives "hundreds" of ineligible applications each year that were mailed March 31 but postmarked the following day.

"If you drop your application in a mailbox, you have to be sure there's another mail pickup at that location (on Friday)," Weske said. "You will need to find a place that will stamp it by March 31."

In Anchorage, Weske said, the airport post office at 4141 Postmark Drive – open until 11 p.m. weekdays – offers a last chance for people filing by mail. U.S. Postal Service spokesman Ernie Swanson said applications dropped in mailboxes outside the airport post office Friday before their final collection time at 7 p.m., or brought to the counter before 11 p.m., will receive March 31 postmarks.

The division's offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau are already getting heavily backed up with in-person applicants, Weske said, and many could have applied online.

"We're helping hundreds of people a day in the Anchorage office at this point," Weske said. "We want to say, 'Hey, if you've got a smartphone, you've got the application in your hand – go ahead and apply online, instead of texting your friend about how long this line is.' "

Procrastinators might find themselves online even after standing in line, Weske said, because the offices will be open only for their usual hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, regardless of the deadline.

"We will close even with a line," Weske said. "Basically, if you show up and you're too late to get into the office, you're going to have to find another way to apply."