2026 Tax Calendar: Key Deadlines for Business Owners
Your Complete Guide to Tax Compliance | Certum Solutions
Stay ahead of IRS deadlines and avoid costly penalties with our comprehensive 2026 tax calendar. Whether you're a small business owner, self-employed professional, or individual taxpayer, tracking these dates is essential for financial success.
Download Your Free 2026 Tax Preparation Checklist – Get our printable PDF with monthly, quarterly, and annual tax tasks to stay organized all year. Download Now, enter your email and name below to get the downloadable now!
The 2026 tax calendar includes critical deadlines every business owner and individual must track. Key dates include April 15 for individual returns, quarterly estimated tax payments on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, 2027, and January 31 for W-2 and 1099 distribution. Remember: extensions don't extend time to pay, just time to file.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Quick Reference: Top 10 Critical Deadlines• Q1 2026 Tax Dates (January - March)• Q2 2026 Tax Dates (April - June)• Q3 2026 Tax Dates (July - September)• Q4 2026 Tax Dates (October - December)• Recurring Monthly Deadlines• Special Notes & Exemptions• Penalty Avoidance Tips• State Tax Considerations• Frequently Asked Questions• How Certum Solutions Can Help━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Quick Reference: Top 10 Critical Deadlines for 2026
| Date | Deadline | Who It Affects |
|---|---|---|
| January 15, 2026 | Q4 2025 Estimated Tax Payment | Self-employed & Businesses |
| January 31, 2026 | W-2 & 1099 Distribution | Employers |
| March 16, 2026 | S Corp & Partnership Returns | S Corps, Partnerships |
| April 15, 2026 | Tax Day - Individual & C Corp Returns | Everyone |
| April 15, 2026 | Q1 2026 Estimated Tax Payment | Self-employed & Businesses |
| June 15, 2026 | Q2 2026 Estimated Tax Payment | Self-employed & Businesses |
| September 15, 2026 | Q3 2026 Estimated Tax Payment | Self-employed & Businesses |
| September 15, 2026 | Extended Partnership/S Corp Returns | Extended Filers |
| October 15, 2026 | Extended Individual Returns | Extended Filers |
| December 31, 2026 | RMDs & Retirement Contributions | Retirees & Savers |
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Q1 2026 TAX DATES (January - March)
The first quarter sets the tone for your entire tax year. Here's what you need to know about the critical deadlines from January through March.
January 2026
January 15, 2026 (Wednesday)
• Q4 2025 Estimated Tax Payment Deadline - Final payment for 2025 tax year (individuals via Form 1040-ES, corporations via Form 1120-W). If you're self-employed or have income that isn't subject to withholding, this is your last quarterly payment for the previous year.
• Monthly Payroll Tax Deposit - December 2025 payroll taxes due via EFTPS. Our payroll services can automate this process for you.
January 31, 2026 (Friday)
• Form W-2 Distribution Deadline - Employers must provide W-2s to employees. Missing this deadline can result in penalties starting at $60 per form.
• Form 1099-NEC & 1099-MISC Deadline - Send copies to recipients for non-employee compensation and miscellaneous income. This is essential for accurate bookkeeping and contractor relationships.
• Information Returns Filing - File Forms W-2, 1099-NEC, and other information returns with IRS (paper or electronic)
February 2026
February 2, 2026 (Monday)
• Electronic Filing Deadline - E-file W-2s and 1099s with Social Security Administration and IRS (electronic filers). Electronic filing is faster and more accurate than paper filing.
February 28, 2026 → March 2, 2026 (Monday)
• Paper Filing Deadline - Paper filers must postmark W-2s and 1099-MISC (falls on Saturday, moves to March 2)
March 2026
March 15, 2026 → March 16, 2026 (Monday)
• Partnership Returns (Form 1065) - Calendar-year partnerships file and issue K-1s to partners
• S Corporation Returns (Form 1120-S) - Calendar-year S corps file and distribute K-1s to shareholders. Choosing the right business entity structure can significantly impact your tax obligations.
• Extension Deadline - File Form 7004 to extend S corp/partnership returns to September 15
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Q2 2026 TAX DATES (April - June)
April brings Tax Day, one of the most important dates on the calendar. Here's your complete guide to spring tax deadlines.
April 2026
April 1, 2026 (Wednesday)
• Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) - Deadline for first RMD if you turned 73 in 2025
April 15, 2026 (Wednesday) - TAX DAY
This is the biggest tax day of the year. Here's everything that's due:
• Individual Tax Returns (Form 1040) - File 2025 personal income tax returns. Working with a tax professional can help you maximize deductions and minimize your tax liability.
• C Corporation Returns (Form 1120) - Calendar-year C corps file 2025 returns
• Trust & Estate Returns (Form 1041) - File and pay any tax due
• Tax Payment Deadline - Pay any taxes owed for 2025 (even with extension). Remember: extensions extend the time to file, not the time to pay.
• Extension Requests - File Form 4868 (individuals) or Form 7004 (corporations) for October 15 extension
• Q1 2026 Estimated Tax Payment - First quarterly payment for 2026 tax year. Our advisory services can help you calculate accurate quarterly estimates.
• IRA & HSA Contributions - Final day to contribute to 2025 IRAs and HSAs
• Partnership Returns (Alternate) - Extended deadline if March 16 was missed
• Exempt Organizations (Form 990) - Calendar-year nonprofits file
• S Corporation Election - Submit Form 2553 for 2026 S corp status. Not sure which business structure is right for you? We can help you decide.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Need Help Meeting Tax Deadlines?
Don't navigate tax season alone. Our team handles tax preparation, quarterly estimates, and year-round planning so you can focus on growing your business.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
May 2026
May 15, 2026 (Friday)
• Nonprofit Tax Returns (Form 990) - Calendar-year tax-exempt organizations file
• Texas Franchise Tax - Certain business entities file and pay (no state income tax in TX)
June 2026
June 15, 2026 (Monday)
• Q2 2026 Estimated Tax Payment - Second quarterly payment covering April-May 2026 income
• U.S. Citizens Abroad - Filing deadline for Form 1040/1040-SR for citizens living abroad (automatic 2-month extension)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Q3 2026 TAX DATES (July - September)
Summer brings fewer deadlines, but they're no less important. Stay on track with these Q3 dates.
September 2026
September 15, 2026 (Tuesday)
• Q3 2026 Estimated Tax Payment - Third quarterly payment covering June-August 2026 income
• Extended Partnership/S Corp Returns - Final deadline for extended Form 1065 and Form 1120-S (filed March 16)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Q4 2026 TAX DATES (October - December)
The final quarter is all about wrapping up the year and preparing for the next tax season.
October 2026
October 15, 2026 (Thursday)
• Extended Individual Returns - Final deadline for extended Form 1040 (filed April 15)
• Extended C Corporation Returns - Final deadline for extended Form 1120 (filed April 15)
• Extended Trust/Estate Returns - Final deadline for extended Form 1041
November 2026
November 16, 2026 (Monday)
• Extended Nonprofit Returns - Calendar-year tax-exempt organizations that filed extensions
December 2026
December 15, 2026 (Tuesday)
• Q4 2026 Corporate Estimated Tax - Fourth-quarter payment for C corporations
• Monthly Payroll Tax Deposit - November 2026 payroll taxes due via EFTPS
December 31, 2026 (Thursday)
• Retirement Plan Contributions - Final day for 401(k), 403(b), 457, TSP contributions for 2026
• Required Minimum Distributions - Take 2026 RMDs to avoid 25% penalty
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
LOOKING AHEAD: Early 2027
January 15, 2027 (Friday)
• Q4 2026 Estimated Tax Payment - Final individual quarterly payment for 2026 tax year (covers October-December 2026)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
RECURRING MONTHLY DEADLINES
Some tax obligations repeat every month. Mark these on your calendar and set up automatic reminders.
10th of Each Month
• Employee tip reporting to employers (if tips exceeded $20 in previous month)
15th of Each Month
• Monthly payroll tax deposits via EFTPS (for previous month)
• Corporate estimated tax payments (varies by quarter)
Last Day of Month
• Form 730 and Form 2290 (specific excise taxes)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
SPECIAL NOTES & EXEMPTIONS
Weekend & Holiday Rules
When any deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, it automatically moves to the next business day. This is why you'll see some dates adjusted in our calendar above.
2026 Federal Holidays
• January 1 (New Year's Day)
• January 19 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
• February 16 (Presidents' Day)
• May 25 (Memorial Day)
• July 3 (Independence Day observed)
• September 7 (Labor Day)
• October 12 (Columbus Day)
• November 11 (Veterans Day)
• November 26 (Thanksgiving)
• December 25 (Christmas)
Fiscal Year Filers
If your business operates on a fiscal year instead of calendar year, your deadlines differ:
• Partnerships/S Corps: 15th day of 3rd month after fiscal year-end
• C Corporations: 15th day of 4th month after fiscal year-end
Estimated Tax Exemptions
You don't need to pay estimated taxes if:
• You expect to owe less than $1,000 after withholding and credits
• You file your return by March 2, 2026, and pay all taxes owed
Farmers & Fishermen
If 2/3 of gross income comes from farming/fishing:
• Single estimated payment due: January 15, 2026 (for 2025 taxes)
• Or file by March 2, 2026, and pay all taxes
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
PENALTY AVOIDANCE TIPS
Understanding penalty structures can save you thousands of dollars. Here's what you need to know.
Late Filing Penalties
• Rate: 5% per month (max 25%) of unpaid tax
• 60+ days late: Minimum penalty of $510 or 100% of tax owed (whichever is less)
Late Payment Penalties
• Rate: 0.5% per month of unpaid balance
• With installment plan: Reduced to 0.25% per month
Interest Charges
• Accrues from original due date until paid
• Rate: Federal short-term rate + 3% (adjusted quarterly)
Best Practices for Staying Compliant
• Set calendar reminders 2 weeks before each deadline
• Organize documents early - Don't wait until April
• Use electronic filing - Faster, more accurate, with instant confirmation
• Make estimated payments - Avoid underpayment penalties
• File extensions when needed - But pay estimated taxes by original deadline
• Keep accurate records - Save receipts, invoices, and statements for 7 years
• Work with a tax professional Get expert guidance year-round
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
STATE TAX CONSIDERATIONS
While federal deadlines apply nationwide, state tax deadlines may vary. Here's what to consider:
North Carolina Business Owners
If you're based in Monroe, NC or operate in North Carolina, keep these state requirements in mind:
• NC Corporate Income Tax: Generally follows federal deadlines
• NC Franchise Tax: Due with corporate income tax return
• NC Withholding Tax: Quarterly or monthly depending on amount
• Sales Tax: Monthly or quarterly filings required
Learn more at the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Common State Considerations
• State Income Tax: Most states follow April 15, but check your state department of revenue
• State Quarterly Estimates: Usually align with federal dates (April, June, Sept, Jan)
• Franchise Tax: States like California and Texas have specific entity-level taxes
• Sales Tax: Monthly or quarterly depending on volume
• Unemployment Tax: Quarterly filings required in most states
Important: Always verify your specific state requirements, as deadlines and rules differ significantly.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When are the 2026 quarterly estimated tax deadlines?
The 2026 quarterly estimated tax payment deadlines are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, 2027 for the fourth quarter. These dates apply to self-employed individuals, freelancers, and businesses that need to make quarterly tax payments.
What is the tax filing deadline for 2026?
Tax Day 2026 is April 15, 2026 (Wednesday). This is the deadline to file 2025 individual tax returns (Form 1040) and pay any taxes owed. C Corporations also have this deadline for calendar-year returns.
Can I get an extension on my 2026 tax return?
Yes, you can file Form 4868 by April 15, 2026 to extend your filing deadline to October 15, 2026. However, you must still pay any estimated taxes owed by April 15 to avoid penalties. Extensions extend the time to file, not the time to pay.
When are 2026 W-2 and 1099 forms due?
Employers must provide W-2s and 1099-NEC forms to recipients by January 31, 2026. Electronic filing with the IRS is due February 2, 2026, while paper filers have until March 2, 2026 (since February 28 falls on a Saturday).
What are the penalties for filing taxes late in 2026?
Late filing penalties are 5% per month (up to 25%) of unpaid tax. If you're 60+ days late, there's a minimum penalty of $510 or 100% of tax owed, whichever is less. Late payment penalties are 0.5% per month of the unpaid balance.
When do S Corporations need to file taxes in 2026?
Calendar-year S Corporations must file Form 1120-S by March 16, 2026 (since March 15 falls on Sunday). They can request an extension by filing Form 7004, which extends the deadline to September 15, 2026.
Do I need to make estimated tax payments in 2026?
You must make estimated tax payments if you expect to owe $1,000 or more after withholding and credits. Quarterly payments are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year. Failing to pay can result in underpayment penalties.
What is the RMD deadline for 2026?
Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) must be taken by December 31, 2026 to avoid a 25% penalty. If you turned 73 in 2025, your first RMD is due by April 1, 2026. The penalty for missing an RMD is severe, so mark your calendar carefully.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Download Your Free 2026 Tax Preparation Checklist
Get organized with our comprehensive tax preparation checklist. This printable PDF includes:
• Monthly, quarterly, and year-end tax tasks
• Document gathering checklist
• Deadline reminders you can add to your calendar
• Tax planning timeline
Download Free Checklist (PDF) above!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
HOW CERTUM SOLUTIONS CAN HELP
At Certum Solutions, we provide comprehensive accounting, advisory, and tax services to keep your organization compliant and financially optimized. Based in Monroe, NC, we serve businesses and individuals throughout North Carolina and beyond.
Our Tax Services Include:
• Tax Planning & Preparation - Minimize liability and maximize deductions with strategic year-round planning
• Quarterly Estimated Tax Calculations - Avoid penalties with accurate projections based on your actual income
• Business Entity Setup - Choose the right structure (LLC, S Corp, C Corp, Partnership) for your situation
• Bookkeeping & Accounting - Monthly financial statements and reconciliation to keep you audit-ready
• Payroll Services - Software solutions that offer timely W-2s, 1099s, and payroll tax deposits
• Advisory Services - Strategic financial planning for growth and long-term success
Why Work With Certum Solutions?
Don't navigate tax season alone. Partner with experts who understand your business and can provide personalized guidance throughout the year. Our proactive approach helps you stay ahead of deadlines, minimize your tax liability, and make strategic financial decisions with confidence.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Ready to Simplify Your Tax Compliance?
Contact Certum Solutions for a free consultation
Email: help@certumsolutions.com
Phone: 980-210-6946
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
SOURCES & VERIFICATION
All dates verified from official IRS sources:
• IRS Publication 509 (2026 Tax Calendars)
• IRS.gov Official Tax Calendar
• Form instructions and revenue procedures
• Bloomberg Tax 2026 Federal Tax Calendar
Disclaimer: This calendar provides general information based on IRS guidance. Remember, extensions do not extend time to pay, just time to file. Tax situations vary by individual and business circumstances. Consult with a qualified tax professional for advice specific to your situation. Certum Solutions provides personalized tax advisory services tailored to your unique needs.