Taxes · 2026
2026 small-business tax deadlines
Missing a filing date is one of the most avoidable — and most expensive — mistakes a business can make. Here's the 2026 federal calendar, in plain English.
Below are the key 2026 federal deadlines for most small businesses (covering the 2025 tax year, plus 2026 quarterly estimates). Calendar-year filers should plan around these dates; if a deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, it shifts to the next business day.
Filing & information-return deadlines
- January 15, 2026 — Q4 2025 estimated tax payment due (individuals and pass-through owners).
- January 31, 2026 — W-2s to employees and 1099-NEC forms to contractors (and to the IRS/SSA).
- March 16, 2026 — S-corporation (Form 1120-S) and partnership (Form 1065) returns due, or file for an extension. (The 15th falls on a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday the 16th.)
- April 15, 2026 — Personal returns (Form 1040), sole-proprietor Schedule C, and C-corporation (Form 1120) returns due — or extend. Q1 2026 estimated payment is also due.
- June 15, 2026 — Q2 2026 estimated tax payment due.
- September 15, 2026 — Q3 2026 estimated payment due, and extended S-corp and partnership returns due.
- October 15, 2026 — Extended personal and C-corp returns due.
- January 15, 2027 — Q4 2026 estimated payment due.
An extension is not a payment delay. Filing an extension gives you more time to file — not more time to pay. Any tax owed is still due by the original deadline, or interest and penalties accrue.
A few that catch people out
1099-NEC. If you paid any contractor $600 or more during 2025, you generally must issue a 1099-NEC by January 31, 2026. Clean bookkeeping with W-9s on file makes this painless; scrambling for vendor details in late January does not.
Estimated payments. Most business owners must pay tax quarterly, not just in April. Underpaying triggers penalties even if you pay in full at filing — which is why year-round tax planning matters.
State deadlines. New York and other states have their own filing and sales-tax dates that may differ from the federal calendar. We track those for clients so nothing slips.
Don't want to track this yourself?
That's the whole point of working with us. Clients get every relevant deadline managed for them — federal and state — with reminders well in advance and returns prepared from books that are already clean.
This article is general information for the 2026 calendar year and not individualized tax advice. Deadlines can change and your situation may differ — confirm specifics with a tax professional or at IRS.gov.
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