In case you haven’t heard the good news, taxpayers have a few more days to file their tax returns this year. Tax Day is pushed out a bit this year. Tax Day will be Monday, April 18, 2016, rather than April 15, 2016.
Traditionally, Tax Day is April 15 unless that date falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, in which case the due date for federal income tax returns gets pushed ahead to the next business day. In some years, the District of Columbia observes Emancipation Day on the same day as Tax Day, which affects the nation’s tax filing deadline – so the deadline gets moved.
Emancipation Day falls on a Saturday in 2016. You’d think that Emancipation Day would get pushed ahead to Monday, April 18, 2016 – but it doesn’t. It actually gets pushed back. By law, when April 16 falls during a weekend, Emancipation Day is observed on the nearest weekday – not necessarily the following weekday. That means, in 2016, Emancipation Day will be observed on Friday, April 15, on what would normally be Tax Day. Tax Day, which falls on a Friday, gets pushed ahead by statute to the next business day, which is Monday, April 18, 2016.
(It’s even more confusing if you file your return in Maine or Massachusetts: due to Patriots Day, the deadline will be Tuesday, April 19, 2016, in those states.)
Still don’t think you’ll be ready on time? File for an extension. It’s always better to file a complete, correct return on extension than a rushed, flawed return by April 18. Plus, you don’t need to tell anyone why you’re filing for extension – even the IRS – since the extension is granted automatically if you follow the rules. It doesn’t increase your chances of audit and there’s no penalty so long as you pay what you owe before April 18. Remember, an extension is an extension of the time to file, not the time to pay.
