Taxpayers Have Three Extra Days To File 2010 Returns

Thanks to a holiday, this year's deadline has been extended to April 18

01/05/2011 | By Mark Huffman

| ConsumerAffairs.com | Tax Preparation

Forget April 15. This year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is giving taxpayers an extra three days to file their 2010 returns.

The extension has nothing to do with the previously announced delay some taxpayers will face in filing their taxes. IRS systems are being reprogrammed to incorporate the changes in the just-passed tax law, so millions of taxpayers won't be able to file until mid or late February.

DC holiday

Instead, the extension is due to a District of Columbia holiday. This year Emancipation Day, a holiday observed in Washington, DC, falls on Friday April 15, which would ordinarily be the tax filing deadline. Since the following two days are on the weekend, the IRS announced the deadline for filing the 2010 federal return will be Monday, April 18, 2011.

This isn't really much of an exception. By law, District of Columbia holidays affect tax deadlines in the same way that federal holidays do; therefore, all taxpayers will have three extra days to file this year. Taxpayers requesting an extension will have until Oct. 17 to file their 2010 tax returns, the agency said.

Meeting the deadline

The IRS said it expects to receive more than 140 million individual tax returns this year, with most of those being filed by the April 18 deadline.

The IRS also cautioned taxpayers with foreign accounts to properly report income from these accounts and file the appropriate forms on time to avoid stiff penalties.

"The IRS has made important strides at stopping tax avoidance using offshore accounts," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. "We continue to focus on offshore tax compliance and people with offshore accounts need to pay taxes on income from those accounts."

The IRS also reminded tax professionals preparing returns for a fee that this is the first year that they must have a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). Tax return preparers should register immediately using the new PTIN sign-up system available through the IRS website.