Posts Tagged ‘tax policies’

Tax Day Isn’t April 15th!?

Posted on: January 5th, 2011 by

Tax Changes - Rockville, MDIt seems we will all get three extra days to file our taxes this year.  They’ll be due on Mon., April 18.  Why is this you may ask – It’s not that pesky processing delay the IRS keeps telling us about.  Instead, the extra days are as a result of Emancipation Day.  It is a little-known Washington, DC holiday that celebrates the freeing of slaves in the District.

The holiday actually falls on Saturday, April 16, but it is observed in D.C. on Friday, April 15.  That prompted the IRS to extend the tax filing deadline to April 18 this year.  Under the tax code, filing deadlines can’t fall on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays.  The last time an extension was granted for this reason was in 2007.

This won’t have much effect on the processing delay though.  The delay, caused by Congress waiting until late December to pass new tax policies, simply means that the 50 million taxpayers who itemize their taxes on a Schedule A form can’t file until February.  However, the IRS estimates that less than 9 million taxpayers will end up being impacted by the delay, based on historical filing patterns.