Congress votes to approve 4/20 as federal holiday

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The rest of the country this year once again has an opportunity to learn about D.C. Emancipation Day — a holiday little known beyond the District that marks the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the nation’s capital.

The holiday, which shuts down city government, will be observed this year on April 17, the Monday after April 15, the typical deadline for filing taxes. Because of the conjunction, the entire country gets a one-day reprieve on filing 2016 tax returns, making the official tax filing deadline Tuesday, April 18.

Emancipation Day usually is celebrated April 16, the date in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed about 3,100 slaves living in the District.

But this year, April 16 falls on a Sunday, so the District will celebrate the holiday the following day. D.C. holidays are treated as federal holidays for tax-filing purposes, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

That pushes the official tax-filing deadline to the next business day, April 18. And, everyone — residents of Florida, California and everywhere in between — will receive an extension, not just D.C. residents.

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