The Internal Revenue Service announced the tax deadline would be extended after multiple outages were reported on its website.
A page on the website that allowed taxpayers to make a payment directly, and a page that accepted returns electronically were down for several hours starting Tuesday morning.
Initially the IRS issued a statement that said: “Currently, certain IRS systems are experiencing technical difficulties. Taxpayers should continue filing their tax returns as they normally would.”
However, by Tuesday evening the problems had been corrected and the website was working properly.
Now the IRS is providing taxpayers with an additional day to file and pay their taxes. The new deadline is midnight on Apr. 18. Taxpayers do not need to do anything to receive this extra time.
“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 in a statement. “The IRS appreciates everyone’s patience during this period. The extra time will help taxpayers affected by this situation.”
It is estimated millions of Americans wait until the last day to file their tax returns. It always results in a busy day for accountant and tax agents across the country.
“My day usually starts around 4 a.m. and that’s after I went to bed at 11 the night before,” said Dr. Friday, a Enrolled Agent in Brentwood.
Dr. Friday experienced difficulties filling returns and extensions on the IRS website Tuesday afternoon. She said it wasn’t the first time she had problems with the website.
“Keep in mind, every year more and more people are electronically filing,” said Dr. Friday. “So even though they are pushing people to do it, the website isn’t designed for it.”
The IRS advised taxpayers to continue to file their taxes as normal Tuesday evening – whether electronically or on paper.
