When is Tax Day?
Posted on March 4, 2008
Filed Under Effective Websites, Usability
Everybody makes assumptions. But sometimes you’d think they’d know better.
Of course, I might be the only person who isn’t already sure of the answer, but what do you do if you want to confirm when your income tax return has to be filed? I’m a Canadian who has been living and working in the United States for several years. The only thing I was fairly certain of was that the deadline for filing taxes is different in the two countries. April 15th rang a bell, but was the bell Canadian or American?
I asked a co-worker. He said April 15th. Sounded good, but when it comes to getting your taxes done, it’s good to be paranoid—especially if you’re an “alien”. No problem. I went to the IRS website, thinking that the due date would appear prominently on the home page.
No.
The home page does tell me that “Form 4136-Fuels Credit… Farmers, Fishermen can e-file and pay between March 3-10″. Good to know, but there’s not even a link on the page that offers an obvious path to the answer I’m looking for. I.e., there’s no FAQ link and the “Help” page really wasn’t any help. There is a link to “Individuals” but I don’t see anything helpful there either.
To be absolutely fair I checked the equivalent site in Canada—The Canada Revenue Agency. I would be happy to report that they have the relevant date front and centre, but no such luck. I had to go from the home page to “All about your tax return” to “Important dates for 2007 (Individuals)” to “Filing due dates for the 2007 tax return”.
Back to the US. On the IRS site I finally found the “Due Date/Deadline” page in the “Frequently Asked Tax Questions And Answers”. Even there, believe it or not, there was no clear answer to my question. The closest they came was the statement more than halfway down the page that “Some forms and entities have due dates other than the well-known April 15th due date.”
In the end I went to Wikipedia and entered “tax day” in the search box. There I learn that “Tax Day is the common American slang term for the day that income taxes are due from most employed American residents, usually April 15th.”
Thank God for Wikipedia. Unless you’re wondering about Canada’s tax day (it’s April 30th).
But tell me—why does it so rarely seem to occur to anyone in government, or to anyone in business, to wonder (a) what are the very basic questions people want answered and (b) can we make sure to provide the answer on the home page or at least show what should be a clear path to the answer?
My co-worker who told me the American due date was April 15th? He was right, but then he started to wonder and he too went to the IRS site. And didn’t find the answer.
Comments
5 Responses to “When is Tax Day?”
Leave a Reply
Call up your local statesman and give them an ear full.
State agencies are likely only doing the bare minimum to meet the requirements of legislation. I personally think that it is amazing that the IRS actually has e-filing along with downloadable forms all online… and these features are probably only in existence because they were required by legislation at some point. Maybe there should be a law passed that requires that all state-run websites be intuitive and useful. We’ll call it the Sweeney Act of 2008.
Great observation, Clive, and a good reminder of the importance of stepping outside of your own head and thinking about the audience.
I was actually wondering about the Canada tax day and luckily google brought me right to your page. Now I know the answer without any official notes from the govt/tax regulators. It is quite silly that our govt’s can’t target their messages to the public they’re here to serve.
That’s great Crissi. I’m really pleased that my post was actually helpful to someone.
ha, same for me. American student in Canada. submitted canadian taxes the other day without even knowing the date and now my racing mind is put to rest…google prevails