As stated yesterday in our update, the IRS’ website was unavailable to accept payments through their “Direct Pay” system.   The payment site was back online around 5 p.m. yesterday, and the IRS announced soon after that they would be providing taxpayers an additional day to file and pay their taxes.  The outage was said to be related to a hardware issue. Taxpayers do not need to do anything to receive the extra time, the IRS said.

    “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.”  Read the IRS’ official news release here: IRS provides additional day to file and pay for taxpayers through Wednesday, April 18; IRS processing systems back online

    The IRS reports that last year, more than 5 million tax returns were filed on the deadline day.  If you are not ready to send your taxes by tonight’s deadline, you can still request an extension.  Even the White House says President Trump has filed an extension for his 2017 tax returns, like many Americans with complex returns.  Click here for information on requesting a filing extension.