The IRS has announced that Tax Day 2022 will be April 18, instead of the usual April 15. At first blush, you would think this is because of Good Friday obviously, the holiday celebrating Jesus' death for our sins. Other news sites are falsely reporting this as the reason. However, a little bit more thinking would give you pause. You would think, "Wait a minute, Good Friday isn't a federal holiday." Which is correct: it isn't. I've never gotten work off for Good Friday. So why would the IRS, a federal agency, move the deadline for something that isn't a federal holiday?
It wouldn't. The deadline isn't moved for Good Friday. You see, there's a second category of holidays the IRS cares about: Washington, D.C. Holidays As the IRS is a federal agency headquartered in the federal district of Columbia, the IRS also follows D.C. holidays. And there's a little-known-about holiday in D.C. known as Emancipation Day. This holiday celebrates the day that President Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, freeing all slaves in Washington, D.C. This was made possible by the outbreak of the Civil War, as the Southern, pro-slavery states left Congress, and it was the first of many freeing acts of the 187th decade. It preceded the Emancipation Proclamation by eight months, General Order No. 3 by three years, and the Thirteenth Amendment by three and a half years.
Since this local holiday is on the 16th, any time it falls on a Saturday, it is celebrated in D.C. on the 15th, Tax Day. This is the real reason the IRS has given three extra days to get those tax forms in this year, as they said in their announcement at the beginning. So enjoy your weekend, get your taxes done (or hire me to), and celebrate how men were freed for both holidays.