When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?

Why this is the answer

April 15 is the deadline, every year, for sending your federal income tax forms to the Internal Revenue Service. The date is easier to remember once you know how Congress gained the power to collect an income tax at all. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gave Congress the power to lay and collect taxes to pay the country’s debts and provide for its common defense and general welfare. Using that power was hard in the early years, when the young government struggled to raise money from the 13 original states. A federal income tax first appeared with the Revenue Act of 1861, and it was only temporary. In 1894 Congress tried again with a flat-rate tax, and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. The lasting fix took a constitutional amendment. Congress passed the 16th Amendment in July 1909, the states ratified it in February 1913, and it lets Congress tax incomes from whatever source derived, without apportioning the tax among the states. Under today’s rules, wages, self-employment earnings, tips and money from selling property all count as taxable income. The USCIS lessons also explain where the money goes: keeping the country safe and secure, research to cure and prevent diseases, education for children and adults, and building and repairing roads and highways, along with many other uses. When answering, give the date itself, April 15. A guess like January 1 or the last day of the year is wrong, and so is a vague reply such as “in the spring.” After reading that history, it is easy to answer with the year 1913 instead of the day. That is the year the taxing power was settled, not the yearly deadline. Keep the two facts as a pair: a date that comes around every spring, and a year you only need to learn once.