Tax Deadline Pushed Back Thanks to D.C. Holiday

Taxpayers will get an extra three days to file their federal tax returns this year, and they can thank the nation's capital for the extra time.

The filing deadline is delayed because the District of Columbia will observe Emancipation Day on Friday, April 15. The Internal Revenue Service said local holidays in the nation's capital impact tax deadlines the same way federal holidays would.

Taxpayers will have until midnight Monday, April 18, to file their 2010 returns.

Emancipation Day marks the occasion when President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Lincoln signed the bill on April 16, 1862, more than eight months before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which eventually led to all slaves being freed.