# A question about taxes and April 15th
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 16, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609 "2011-04-16T15:26:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/1 "2011-04-16T15:26:15Z")
How did April 15th come to be the day that those of us in the USA pay our federal and state taxes? Does anyone know?
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/2 "2011-04-16T15:40:06Z")
this year take until the 18th, it will be OK.
used to be March 15th and March 1st…
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/3 "2011-04-16T15:47:20Z")
But how was the usual day, April 15th, settled on?
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/4 "2011-04-16T17:34:14Z")
According to [Fortune Magazine](http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2002/04/15/321414/index.htm), it was set at April 15 by Congress in 1955. I’d assume most states set theirs at April 15 just for symmetry with the feds.
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/5 "2011-04-16T18:51:52Z")
April 15th itself is arbitrary.
However, that time of year makes some sense. You need to give information reporters time to put documents out - W-2s, 1099s, 1098s, etc. The deadlines for those are Jan 31st or Feb 15th. So if Joe the Plumber gets his documents in the middle of February, a due date in the middle of April gives him two months to double-check things, track down stragglers, etc.
Corporations are due March 15th (if they have a calendar year) and nonprofits are due May 15th. So clearly there’s nothing magical about April.
Besides giving people enough time to get their documents together, the government does want to get its money within a reasonable time frame. If they let the due date slide too far out, they’ll end up waiting that much longer to receive revenues.
As for the 15th… Accountants have a lot of month-end work in most companies - payroll, sales tax, monthly statements, etc. The 15th may be intended as a small concession to them.
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### Author:  [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/6 "2011-04-16T18:54:50Z")
When does the fiscal year start?
Found it; Oct 1, so no connection there.
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### Author:  [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/7 "2011-04-16T19:09:21Z")
> [@dracoi](#):
>
> …Besides giving people enough time to get their documents together, the government does want to get its money within a reasonable time frame. If they let the due date slide too far out, they’ll end up waiting that much longer to receive revenues. …
With withholding and quarterly filings, the due date is pretty much a paperwork exercise. There are probably more refunds than payments.
On a related note: Why is is April 18th this year? If the 15th is on a holiday or weekend, they usually let it slide to Monday. However April 15th was on a Friday this year.
Just as a Nya-nya, here in Massachusetts, we get a one-more-day grace period because the 3rd Monday in April is a legal holiday in Massachusetts (and Maine). It’s Patriots Day. Whoda thunk that they’d name a holiday after our football team?
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/8 "2011-04-16T19:13:55Z")
> [@bizerta](#):
>
> On a related note: Why is is April 18th this year? If the 15th is on a holiday or weekend, they usually let it slide to Monday. However April 15th was on a Friday this year.
here’s the [dope](http://www.walletpop.com/2010/10/28/why-tax-day-wont-be-april-15-in-2011/):
> [@](#):
>
> In 2011, Washington, D.C., will celebrate Emancipation Day on April 15, a day earlier than normal, since April 16 falls on a Saturday. Emancipation Day marks the anniversary of the day that President Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act. The Act, which was “for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia,” freed 3,100 slaves in the District, making DC residents the “first freed” by the federal government. In 2005, Emancipation Day was made an official public holiday in the District of Columbia.
>
> In observance of the DC holiday, Tax Day will be moved forward one business day, this year landing it on Monday, April 18. That’s the date your form has to be either submitted electronically or postmarked by for your tax return to be considered timely filed by the IRS.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/9 "2011-04-16T19:18:05Z")
> [@bizerta](#):
>
> On a related note: Why is is April 18th this year? If the 15th is on a holiday or weekend, they usually let it slide to Monday. However April 15th was on a Friday this year.
Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in the District of Columbia, was celebrated on April 15.
dang i should have refreshed the thread.
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### Author:  [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/10 "2011-04-18T18:02:37Z")
I would be willing to bet that it has something to do with being so far from November!
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-taxes-and-april-15th/578609/11 "2011-04-18T18:24:16Z")
Virginia is May 1, but I do them at the same time as the federal taxes anyway.