Taxpayers can thank a little-known holiday in Washington, D.C., for extending the deadline to file tax returns until April 18 this year.
Washington observes the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln signing the Compensated Emancipation Act that freed 3,100 slaves in the Capital on April 16, 1862. Because April 16 falls on Saturday, the holiday will be observed on Friday this year and tax returns aren’t due until Monday.
The April 18 deadline also applies to filing state taxes, according to the Mississippi Department of Revenue.
The extension isn’t the only unusual thing about this filing season.
“We’re not mailing out tax packages,” said Dee Harris Stepter, IRS media representative for Mississippi and Louisiana. Instead, IRS sent a postcard notifying the 8 percent of taxpayers who filed paper forms that they would not long receive them in the mail.
Read the complete story at sunherald.com