Tax Day Is April 18 to Accommodate Washington, DC, Holiday

The deadline to file taxes is on April 18 this year, and it turns out that taxpayers have the city of Washington, D.C. to thank for the extra time, according to the Washington Examiner.

Washington, D.C. celebrates Emancipation Day April 16, but this year that day falls on a Saturday. The city moved the celebration of the day to April 15. Almost no one except city employees get the day off.

To accommodate the D.C. holiday, the IRS delayed the tax-filing deadline.

Emancipation Day commemorates when President Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act that freed more than 3,000 slaves in D.C.

Residents of Maine and Massachusetts get four extra days. Those states celebrate Patriots Day April 18, so the IRS moved the deadline there to April 19. 

However, since tax payments must be sent to states where April 18 is not a holiday, the first installment of tax payments is due then, according to a CBS News report.

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