The Mercury (Pottstown, PA)

Deadline for filing tax returns is Tuesday

Tax agency said Thursday nearly 40 million taxpayers have yet to file

- By Stephen Ohlemacher

Taxpayers get an extension because April 15 is a Saturday, and Monday is a holiday in the District of Columbia.

WASHINGTON >> Hey, procrastin­ators: Don’t freak out if you haven’t finished your taxes. The IRS is giving you a reprieve until Tuesday.

The usual April 15 deadline falls on Saturday this year. That would normally push the deadline to Monday. However, Monday is a holiday in the District of Columbia, so by law, the filing deadline is extended until Tuesday.

Monday is Emancipati­on Day in the District of Columbia. It marks the day in 1862 in which 3,100 slaves living in Washington were freed.

All the states that usually have an April 15 deadline have delayed their filing date as well. A handful of states have later deadlines.

The IRS has already processed 101 million individual returns and has issued $229 billion in refunds. The average refund is $2,851.

The tax agency said Thursday that nearly 40 million taxpayers have yet to file their returns. Taxpayers can request an automatic six-month extension.

But there is no extension for paying your tax bill. If you owe additional taxes, they are still due Tuesday.

“With the tax deadline approachin­g, taxpayers shouldn’t panic. The IRS has many options available to help people as they finalize their tax returns or if they need to get extra time to file,” said IRS Commission­er John Koskinen.

As last-minute filers rush to finish their taxes, their chances of

getting audited have rarely been lower.

The number of people audited by the IRS in 2016 dropped for the sixth straight year, to just over 1 million. The last time so few people were audited was 2004. Since then, the U.S. has added about 30 million people.

The IRS blames budget cuts as money for the agency shrank from $12.2 billion in 2010 to $11.2 billion last year. Over that period, the agency has lost more than 17,000 employees, including nearly 7,000 enforcemen­t agents. About 80,000 people work at the IRS.

In 2016, the number of people audited by the IRS dropped by 16 percent from the year before. Just 0.7 percent of individual­s were audited, either in person or by mail. That’s the lowest audit rate since 2003.

The higher your income, the more likely you are to be audited. The IRS audited 1.7 percent of returns that reported more than $200,000 in income. Agents audited 5.8 percent of returns that reported more than $1 million in income.

Both audit rates were steep declines from the year before.

 ?? BRENNAN LINSLEY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE ?? In this file photo, tax preparatio­n firm owner Alicia Utley reaches for hard copies of tax forms in her offices at Infinite Tax Solutions, in Boulder, Colo.
BRENNAN LINSLEY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE In this file photo, tax preparatio­n firm owner Alicia Utley reaches for hard copies of tax forms in her offices at Infinite Tax Solutions, in Boulder, Colo.
 ?? ANDREW HARNIK — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? The Internal Revenue Service Building in Washington is shown. The deadline for filing federal income tax returns in April 18 this year — good news for procrastin­ators.
ANDREW HARNIK — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Internal Revenue Service Building in Washington is shown. The deadline for filing federal income tax returns in April 18 this year — good news for procrastin­ators.

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