WASHINGTON – Taxpayers around the country will get an extra two days, until April 17, to file 2006 returns and pay taxes owed, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.

The two-day reprieve comes about because April 15, the usual tax day, falls on a Sunday this year and April 16 is Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in the District of Columbia. The IRS said holidays observed in the nation’s capital have an effect nationwide.

The tax agency had previously announced that residents of the District of Columbia and six eastern states would have an April 17 deadline because they are served by an IRS processing facility in Massachusetts, where Patriots Day will be observed on April 16.

The IRS said the April 17 deadline will apply to actions including:

* 2006 federal individual income tax returns, whether filed electronically or on paper.

* Requests for an automatic six-month tax-filing extension.

* 2006 balance-due payments.

* Tax-year 2006 contributions to a Roth or traditional IRA.

Emancipation Day marks the April 16, 1862, signing by President Lincoln of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed slaves in the District of Columbia. It is not a federal holiday, and IRS offices will be open.

In 2008 taxpayers will again face the usual April 15 deadline. The next year that Emancipation Day could affect filing deadlines is 2011.