IRS gives taxpayers an additional day to file taxes after technical difficulties

The IRS said late Tuesday that it is giving taxpayers an additional day to file and pay their taxes following a system outage earlier in the day.

The filing deadline had been Tuesday, but taxpayers can now file by Wednesday at midnight without taking any additional action, the agency said. Taxpayers can also continue to request six-month extensions.

The IRS’s announcement comes after several lawmakers had encouraged the agency to grant taxpayers an extension due to the technical issues. The agency said that last year, about five million taxpayers filed their returns on the last day of the filing season.

Several IRS systems relating to return filing and payment were unavailable Tuesday morning. The IRS said in the evening that taxpayers were still able to file their returns through tax-preparation software during the outage, and that the systems are back online.

The IRS said that all indications suggest the issue was due to a hardware issue.

“This is the busiest tax day of the year, and the IRS apologizes for the inconvenience this system issue caused for taxpayers,” Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter said in a news release. “The IRS appreciates everyone’s patience during this period. The extra time will help taxpayers affected by this situation.”