This year’s traditional tax deadline of April 15 fell on a Saturday. And that gave most Americans a few extra days to file their taxes. They also received an extra day because Monday, April 17, was Emancipation Day, a federal holiday in the District of Columbia, which pushed the tax deadline another day to the eighteenth.
Yet, even with the extra time, some taxpayers still aren’t ready for the official midnight deadline.
Doug Talmage, with the accounting firm Pohlman and Talmage in Dayton, says anyone needing extra time can file an extension. But, he says, taxpayers who expect to owe the IRS still need to pay. Penalties go into effect after April 18.
“The extension only gives you an extension of time to file your return - it’s not an extension to pay, so you have to do your best to try and estimate if you might owe and make a payment. Otherwise, you will have a late penalty,” he says.
Talmage says IRS penalties increase the longer taxes remain unpaid.
Americans have been paying taxes since 1913, when Congress passed the 16th Amendment. Before that date, the federal government raised revenue by levying tariffs on imported and exported goods.
