The IRS Just Delayed Tax Day Until May, 17, 2021

Image: Nataliya Vaitkevich via Pexels

People who are procrastinating doing their taxes just got the green light to procrastinate another month. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) just announced that they’re delaying the federal income tax filing deadline to May 17, 2021, so you do not have to file your taxes by April 15 as is normal most years.

#IRS and @USTreasury extend filing and payment deadline for individuals to May 17, 2021. Details at https://t.co/BAj5rvsPvy pic.twitter.com/26rGNababM

— IRSnews (@IRSnews) March 17, 2021

“Individual taxpayers can also postpone federal income tax payments for the 2020 tax year due on April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021, without penalties and interest, regardless of the amount owed,” the IRS said in their statement. “This postponement applies to individual taxpayers, including individuals who pay self-employment tax.”

IRS expected to push filing deadline to mid-May as agency grapples with backlog of returns https://t.co/q9iuI2OQl4

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 17, 2021

The announcement comes after the Washington Post broke the story Wednesday morning that the IRS was “expected” to push the filing deadline out to May 17. Within a few hours, the IRS confirmed the report was true and made their official announcement.

According to the Post, the deadline extension was granted because “the agency grapples with a mounting backlog of 24 million returns awaiting processing since the 2019 tax year.” They add that “the workload has put the agency underwater — and under political siege — as lawmakers fret that long-unresolved troubles at the IRS could undercut the Biden administration’s economic recovery efforts.” 

But your California state taxes will probably still be due on April 15 this year. The IRS announcement notes that their extension “only applies to individual federal income returns” and “not state tax payments.” The California Franchise Tax Board website still says that “Most people must file and pay their tax owed by April 15, 2021.”