If you haven't filed your federal income tax return yet, don't worry. You have until midnight Tuesday to complete the disagreeable task.
Tuesday? Isn't the normal Internal Revenue Service deadline April 15?
Yes, it is. But because that date fell on Sunday, the deadline was extended. It was put forward another day when it was found today is an official holiday in the District of Columbia.
April 16 is Emancipation Day in the District. Even though the day is not a holiday elsewhere, the IRS is required by law to treat D.C. holidays as it would federal ones - even if the observance in question is not set in any other part of the United States.
Absurd? Indeed - and particularly so since most IRS service centers, to which you send returns, are not in Washington, D.C.
Don't blame the IRS. Congress enacted the law. It is just one more example of how special interests often are favored at the expense of the rest of us.
