When Is the Official Income Tax Filing Deadline in 2016?

April 15 is the tax deadline. Your income tax returns must be filed online by 11:59 pm that night to avoid penalties, or you have to have them postmarked that day to avoid the same penalties. Except, it’s not always the case. Your 2015 income taxes are due in April 2016, but that doesn’t mean they are due on the 15^th. What do we mean? Well, there are certain years when the 15^th simply is not tax deadline day, and it’s important to know which years those are and which days do not qualify as a deadline day if the 15^th happens to fall on one.

Obviously, you will not have to file your income taxes by the 15^th of April if the day is on a weekend. Saturdays and Sundays are weekends for the good people at the IRS, and that means you are looking at an extended deadline to whatever date that following Monday happens to be. Of course, if that Monday happens to be a holiday, you then have until the following business day that is not considered a holiday. If you have serious questions about when the deadline actually is, just file early. If you still want to make sure you know, always check with the Internal Revenue Service; since it changes yearly. This year, though, the deadline is actually April 18^th.

While April 15^th is a Friday, it’s also a federal holiday this year; the following Monday. However, it’s the 19^th for people in Maine and Massachusetts. Emancipation day happens to be on April 15, because it is a national holiday in Washington D.C. For the people of Maine and Massachusetts, Patriot’s Day is the 18^th. This means that the filers in those two states have until the 19^th of February to file their income tax returns for 2015. Are you sufficiently confused at the moment? Good; then you’re well into tax season.

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