Did you know that New Yorkers actually have extra days this year to file 2016 income tax returns? How many extra?

New Yorkers, along with most of the rest of the county, get three extra days to file their tax returns this year. On normal years the filing deadline is April 15th, for 2016 it's April 18th. Why do we get the extra time? According to Syracuse.com, it's because of Emancipation Day. This holiday is unique in the fact it's only celebrated in the District of Columbia, hence why tax returns are delayed.

The day celebrates the anniversary of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which president Abraham Lincoln signed on April 16, 1862.  The act, signed eight and a half months before Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, freed more than 3000 slaves in the District of Columbia. (Slavery did not officially end in the rest of the United States until after the Civil War ended in 1865.) The federal government recognizes Emancipation Day as a holiday because it is based in Washington, D.C."

Next year you'll be able to file after April 15th too. In 2017, residents of New York will get two extra days to file their returns.

Happy Tax season, and happy filing.


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