There is exactly one week left to submit your individual tax returns to the IRS. April 17, 2018 is this year’s official tax deadline – due to the 15th falling on a Sunday and Monday being Emancipation Day – a legal holiday in the District of Columbia.
Emancipation Day is a holiday in Washington DC to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which president Abraham Lincoln signed on April 16, 1862. Local government offices are closed and many public services do not operate. In all other areas of the United States, April 16 is a normal day and public life is not affected.
The Act is different than the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which formally ended slavery in the US. The Amendment was proposed on January 31, 1865, and ratified by 30 of the then 36 states in the same year. However, it was only ratified in Mississippi in 1995.