If you are like a lot of Americans, you have waited until the last minute to file your income taxes with the IRS. Usually, taxes are due on April 15th every year...but no this year!

That's right, in 2018 you have until Tuesday, April 17th to file your taxes. There a couple of reasons why the date is the 17th this year and not the 15th.

First off, anytime the 15th falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline will be pushed back to the next available weekday.

Usually, that would be the 16th, but this year the 16th is Emancipation Day, which is a legal holiday in Washington, D.C.  The holiday celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which ended slavery in the nation’s capital on that day in 1862.

So under federal tax law, holidays for the District of Columbia get the same legal clout as their national counterparts when it comes to determining tax deadlines.

That means you have until Tuesday, April 17th to file your taxes!

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