IRS Filing Deadline April 17 – Two Extra Days to File

IRS Filing Deadline April 17 – Two Extra Days to File

Article by Curran Boomer

The IRS filing deadline is two days later this year than the usual April 15 Tax Day. That’s right! The whole country has an extra 48 hours to file their return. That means that 2011 taxes are now due on Tuesday, April 17, 2012.

For those who are clued into the tax scene, this is probably old news. Tax writers and news outlets beat this topic into a dead horse months ago, before filing even started. But now with the federal tax due date just around the corner it takes on a new relevance, as tax procrastinators and last minute filers rush to start the filing process. So if you are just now rushing to begin the filing process, thinking that taxes are due on the 15, you can breathe a little easier. You’ve got a couple extra days.

But why the change? Wasn’t Tax Day on April 15 one of life’s immovable certainties? Well, if April 15 falls on a weekend or a holiday, the IRS offices are closed and thus they can’t process the flood of returns and concerns that inevitably swamp the agency on income tax day.

This is exactly the situation this year. April 15 actually falls on a Sunday. Ordinarily, taxes would be due on the next business day, but Monday April 16 also happens to be Emancipation Day, a holiday in the District of Columbia that celebrates President Lincoln’s emancipation of D.C.’s 3,100 slaves in 1862. Hence it falls on the next business day after that, Tuesday the 17th.

Now that you realize you’ve got an extra two days to file, don’t just sit back down on the couch! You should take advantage of these extra days to do a thorough job on your return, making sure that you take advantage of every credit and deduction possible.

The first step to filing your taxes is to gather your tax documents. Depending on how organized you are, this can be an arduous process in and of itself. Make sure to locate all of the W-2s and 1099s you received back in January. You will also need any other tax-related documents, such as a 1098-T if you are a student planning on claiming education credits, or receipts validating the deductions you plan on claiming.

Then the next step is to find a good tax filing software. At this point in the process, it’s probably too late to use a live tax agent, so unless you want to fill out all of those forms yourself, you will need the help of online tax preparation software.