TurboTax May Be Easy to Use, but You Might Qualify to File Taxes for Free Jacqui Germain s 2021 . This time last year, as the country settled into the grim reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government announced a small bit of relief. Taxpayers wouldn’t need to file their taxes until July 15, extending the annual deadline by three months. First-time-filers, habitual procrastinators, and COVID-stressed taxpayers rejoiced. In 2021, the tax filing deadline has again been extended, this time to Monday, May 17. But these short-term fixes don’t address the underlying ...