For those of you who have April 15th marked on the calendar to file taxes and have not yet done so this year, take a deep breath: you have three extra days to get them done. So, with the deadline now April 18th, who can you thank for this “extension” then? Not the IRS or your lucky stars, but our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln.
Why? Back on April 16th, 1862, President Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed approximately 3,000 slaves in the District. Then in 2005, to mark this day in history, Washington D.C. designated April 16th as Emancipation Day. Because Emancipation Day falls on a Saturday this year, however, it will be observed on the 15th, meaning that the IRS deems this date as a federal holiday for tax purposes. The next business day, Monday, April 18th, now becomes the “new” deadline to file your taxes in order to avoid penalties this year.
So, there you have it procrastinators. If the extra day in February for leap year was not enough, you now have three extra days to file. No excuses in 2016!
