Only if you need more time. Form 7004 is optional, and filing it gives most business returns an automatic extension of up to six months.

There is no downside to filing one as a precaution, and no explanation is required. It extends the filing date, not the payment date.

On or before the original due date of the return, which is 15 April for a calendar-year C-Corp. Filed on time, it extends the return to October.

Form 7004 extends filing only. Tax owed is still due in April, so estimate and pay with the extension.

There is no penalty for the extension itself. The consequence is that the extension is not granted, so the underlying return becomes late and its own penalties start accruing.

That is why the extension has to be in on or before the original due date. More on Form 7004.

An annual fee every Delaware corporation owes to keep its entity in good standing. It is not a tax on income, so it is owed whether or not the company trades or makes a profit.

Corporations file an annual report with it, by 1 March. Miss it and the state can void the charter, which blocks financings until it is reinstated.

The same federal return every US C-Corp files. There is no Delaware-specific version of Form 1120.

What Delaware adds is franchise tax and an annual report, which are state obligations separate from the federal return. Companies often conflate the two and miss one of them.

A corporation incorporated in Delaware and taxed under subchapter C, meaning it pays tax at the entity level and can have unlimited shareholders, including foreign ones, across multiple stock classes.

It is the structure US investors expect. Our Delaware C-Corp guide covers what it involves.

Interest and penalties accrue, the company loses good standing, and after prolonged non-payment Delaware can void the charter.

A voided entity cannot get a certificate of good standing, which blocks financings and bank account changes. Reinstatement means paying everything owed plus fees. More on franchise tax.

It reports transfers of property, including cash above a threshold, from a US person to a foreign corporation.

Funding your Indian subsidiary from the US parent can trigger it. The penalty is a percentage of the transferred value, so it is worth checking before the wire goes out. Our Form 926 guide.

If you are issuing one, you file it through an electronic provider rather than printing the IRS copy, which is scannable and cannot be downloaded and submitted.

If you are expecting to receive one, it comes from whoever paid you. Our 1099 guide covers both sides.

Yes, through the IRS IRIS or FIRE systems, or via a filing provider. For most businesses it is now mandatory rather than optional.

If you file 10 or more information returns in total across all types, electronic filing is required. Our 1099 guide covers the process.

Every domestic C-Corp, every year, including companies with no revenue and no activity. Some other entities elect corporate treatment and file it too.

The zero-revenue case is the one founders get wrong. Our Form 1120 page covers who files and what the return needs.

Form 1040 is your personal return. Form 1120 is your company's corporate return, filed by the C-Corp as a separate taxpayer.

Owning a C-Corp does not merge the two. The company files its own return and pays its own tax, and you file personally on salary or dividends you receive.

Charitable organisations, social welfare organisations, social clubs, trade associations, labour organisations, veterans' organisations, and political organisations, among others the IRS lists.

Exempt status does not mean no filing. Most still submit an annual information return on Form 990 or one of its variants. More on US tax obligations.

You file an amended return correcting the error. Small arithmetic mistakes are often caught and adjusted by the IRS, which sends a notice rather than requiring an amendment.

Errors that change taxable income need fixing properly. Our Form 1120 page covers what the return requires.

The IRS treats a paper return filed when e-filing was required as a failure to file, charged per return and increasing with delay.

Penalties stack across forms, so one administrative decision across 15 returns becomes a meaningful bill. Our guide to late filing penalties covers how they are calculated.

Collect W-9s as contractors are onboarded rather than in January, keep contractor payments separate from payroll in your books, and use a provider that transmits to the IRS electronically.

The threshold counts all information returns together, so 1099s plus W-2s reaching 10 makes e-filing mandatory. Our 1099-NEC guide covers the detail.