The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) extended the deadline Wednesday to file federal income taxes from April 15th to May 17th, but a local tax expert says you should still file as soon as possible.

H & R Block Area Manager for Washington, Sigourney and Columbus Junction Terri Bain says the sooner you file your taxes, the sooner you’ll get your refund and the next stimulus check. She says the IRS is still processing returns, but tax preparers were not surprised by the extension, “Bottom line is yes they extended the filing deadline because there are a lot of things going on at the IRS. They’re trying to process stimulus payments, they’re trying to make sure people have received their stimulus payments if they need to use that balance to pay on their taxes, so they’re trying to give you just a little more time because there were a lot of changes last week when they came out with the American Rescue Act. A little bit of time, but not as much as they did last year.”

Due to the pandemic, last year’s federal tax filing deadline was extended until July 15th and Iowa’s state income tax deadline was pushed back to July 31st, but Bain says as of now, the state deadline remains on April 30th.Bain says while stimulus payments are not taxable, they are entered on the tax form to verify you have received those payments. She says if the payments were not received, it will be indicated when submitting the return, then the IRS will verify the non-payment so the stimulus is included with your refund.