Tax Day 2023: Why the deadline falls on Tuesday this year
Jack Birle
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Tax Day is traditionally April 15, but this year, the deadline to file taxes was pushed back to April 18 due to two different factors.
In 2023, April 15 fell on a Saturday, meaning it would typically be delayed until the next Monday, April 17, but a local holiday in Washington, D.C., pushed it back one more day.
TAX DAY 2023: WHEN IS DEADLINE TO FILE RETURN WITH THE IRS
Emancipation Day, a holiday celebrated on April 16 that commemorates the anniversary of when slaves were freed in the District of Columbia in 1862, pushed the deadline back a day because it fell on a Sunday, meaning the holiday was observed instead on Monday, April 17.
Tax Day may not fall on a weekend or holiday, so it had to be pushed back three days from its traditional date, giving filers three extra days to submit their tax forms for the 2022 tax year.
This year marks the fourth consecutive year that Tax Day has not fallen on April 15. In 2022, Tax Day was delayed due to Emancipation Day again occurring on a weekend and being celebrated instead on April 15. In 2020, the deadline was pushed to July 15 due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and in 2021, it was pushed to May 17 due to tax code changes from government relief for COVID-19.
In 2024, Tax Day will fall on April 15, a Monday, for the first time since 2019.
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Taxpayers may also request extensions for their income taxes, which gives filers until Oct. 16 to file their 2022 income tax returns. The IRS also said some taxpayers in California, Georgia, and Alabama are eligible for an extension on this deadline due to disasters in those states.
Tax Day was created after the ratification of the 16th Amendment, which allowed the federal government to levy an income tax, in 1913.