BUSINESS DIGEST || Bankruptcy surge slows in 2010

Bankruptcy surge slows in 2010

RALEIGH, N.C.

The growth in bankruptcies around the country slowed significantly in 2010 from its breakneck pace in recent years, with about a dozen states recording a decline in filings from consumers and businesses, according to an Associated Press tally Tuesday.

Filings collected from the nation’s 90 bankruptcy districts showed 113,000 bankruptcies in December, down 3 percent nationwide from the same month a year ago. That followed a similar year-over-year decline for the month of October. It had been four years since an individual month showed such an improvement.

In total, the nation recorded 1.55 million filings in 2010, an increase of 8 percent from 2009 and a far-slower growth rate than the 32 percent jump recorded in the year before and the 33 percent jump the year before that.

Tax-filing deadline pushed to April 18

WASHINGTON

Taxpayers will get an extra three days to file their federal tax returns this year, and they can thank the nation’s capital for the extra time.

The filing deadline is delayed because the District of Columbia will observe Emancipation Day on Friday, April 15. The Internal Revenue Service says local holidays in the nation’s capital impact tax deadlines the same way federal holidays would.

Taxpayers will have until midnight Monday, April 18, to file their 2010 returns.

Emancipation Day marks the occasion when President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Lincoln signed the bill April 16, 1862, more than eight months before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which eventually led to all slaves’ being freed.

Associated Press