The IRS announced on Tuesday that it has extended the tax deadline by one day to April 18, 2018. The move comes as many tax professionals and individuals encountered difficulties with the IRS website, particularly its Direct Pay system, which allows debit-based payment of tax obligations for no fee.
“This is the busiest tax day of the year, and the IRS apologizes for the inconvenience this system issue caused for taxpayers,” said Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter. “The IRS appreciates everyone’s patience during this period. The extra time will help taxpayers affected by this situation.”
In a statement, the IRS said:
The Internal Revenue Service announced today that it is providing taxpayers an additional day to file and pay their taxes following system issues that surfaced early on the April 17 tax deadline. Individuals and businesses with a filing or payment due date of April 17 will now have until midnight on Wednesday, April 18. Taxpayers do not need to do anything to receive this extra time.
The IRS encountered system issues Tuesday morning. Throughout the system outage, taxpayers were still able to file their tax returns electronically through their software providers and Free File. Taxpayers using paper to file and pay their taxes at the deadline were not affected by the system issue.
Some users also had problems with the IRS efiling functions. As a result of the additional day, taxpayers will have until midnight Wednesday night to submit their individual tax returns, or to request an automatic 6-month extension.
The IRS deadline this year was Tuesday April 17, because April 15th fell on a Sunday, and Monday was a holiday in Washington, D.C.