The IRS rule is simple once you see it. Your return is due on the 15th day of the fifth month after your organization's year ends. If that day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, it's due the next business day.
So forget the calendar year. What matters is the month your books close.
Count it out
Start from the month your year ends, count five months forward, and land on the 15th. A year that ends June 30 counts July, August, September, October, November, so the return is due November 15. In 2026, November 15 is a Sunday, which moves it to Monday, November 16.
Every due date from now to next fall
- Year ended May 31, 2026: due Thursday, October 15, 2026
- Year ended June 30, 2026: due Monday, November 16, 2026 (the 15th is a Sunday)
- Year ended July 31, 2026: due Tuesday, December 15, 2026
- Year ended August 31, 2026: due Friday, January 15, 2027
- Year ended September 30, 2026: due Tuesday, February 16, 2027 (the 15th is Washington's Birthday, a federal holiday)
- Year ended October 31, 2026: due Monday, March 15, 2027
- Year ended November 30, 2026: due Thursday, April 15, 2027
- Year ended December 31, 2026: due Monday, May 17, 2027 (the 15th is a Saturday)
- Year ended January 31, 2027: due Tuesday, June 15, 2027
- Year ended February 28, 2027: due Thursday, July 15, 2027
- Year ended March 31, 2027: due Monday, August 16, 2027 (the 15th is a Sunday)
- Year ended April 30, 2027: due Wednesday, September 15, 2027
We worked these out from the IRS rule and the federal holiday calendar published by the Office of Personnel Management. If your date is close, check it against the IRS instructions before you count on it.
Which form you file
The due date is the same whichever version you file. Here's how the IRS sorts it:
- Form 990-N (the e-Postcard) if your gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less.
- Form 990-EZ if your gross receipts are under $200,000 and your total assets at year end are under $500,000.
- Form 990 if your gross receipts are $200,000 or more, or your total assets are $500,000 or more.
Private foundations file Form 990-PF instead. Churches, conventions or associations of churches, and their integrated auxiliaries don't have to file, the Form 990 instructions say.
Need more time?
File Form 8868 by your due date and you get an automatic six-month extension, no reason needed. You get one extension per return per year. Form 8868 can't extend a 990-N, though. The IRS says there's no penalty for a late e-Postcard, but the next rule is the one to watch.
The three-year rule
Miss three years in a row, on any version of the form, and the IRS revokes your tax-exempt status automatically, on the due date of that third return. You can apply to get it back, but it's a pile of paperwork you'd rather skip. The IRS also publishes the list of revoked organizations, so funders and donors can see it.
Make it hard to forget
Put two reminders on your calendar: one 30 days before your due date and one on the day itself. Then give the same two reminders to your board treasurer.
State filings are separate and have their own deadlines. Your state's charity regulator can tell you yours.
Keep reading
- Instructions for Form 990 (opens in a new tab), from the IRS
This guide is general information, not tax advice.
Sources
- IRS Instructions for Form 990 (2025), "When, Where, and How To File" and "Automatic revocation for nonfiling for 3 consecutive years" (opens in a new tab)
- IRS, Exempt organization annual filing requirements overview (opens in a new tab)
- IRS, Form 990-N (e-Postcard) (opens in a new tab)
- IRS Instructions for Form 8868 (01/2026) (opens in a new tab)
- IRS, Automatic revocation of exemption (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, federal holidays 2026 and 2027 (opens in a new tab)
Updated October 9, 2026