Form 8752 is the annual filing that partnerships and S corporations with a Section 444 fiscal-year election use to calculate and pay the “required payment” under Section 7519. The payment offsets the tax deferral their owners would otherwise get from a non-calendar year end, and the form is due even when the calculation comes out to zero. For election years beginning in 2025, the filing and any payment are due by May 15, 2026.1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8752
Who Has to File
Any partnership or S corporation with a Section 444 election in effect must file Form 8752 for every year the election is active.1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8752 Section 444 lets these entities adopt a fiscal tax year, such as one ending September 30, October 31, or November 30, instead of the calendar year they would otherwise be required to use. The chosen year cannot create a deferral period longer than three months.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 444
Entities that terminate the Section 444 election or liquidate file Form 8752 one final time to recover their accumulated payment balance.1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8752
How the Required Payment Is Calculated
The formula estimates the tax owners would have owed on the deferred income, then subtracts what the entity has already paid in prior years. It multiplies the entity’s net base year income by the “adjusted highest section 1 rate,” which is the top individual income tax rate plus one percentage point.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7519 For 2026 filings, that rate is 38% (the top individual rate of 37% plus one point).4Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
No payment is required if the calculated amount is $500 or less, but the form still has to be filed.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7519
Net Base Year Income and the Deferral Ratio
“Net base year income” is the entity’s income from the tax year immediately before the current election year, adjusted for the deferral period. The adjustment uses a deferral ratio: months in the deferral period divided by total months in the entity’s tax year.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7519 An entity with a September 30 year end has a three-month deferral period and a twelve-month tax year, so its deferral ratio is 3/12, or 25%. That ratio isolates the portion of base year income treated as deferred.
Applicable Payments and Prior Year Balance
S corporations reduce base year income by “applicable payments,” meaning distributions and compensation paid to shareholders during the deferral period. Partnerships use a similar computation based on guaranteed payments and distributions to partners. These reductions prevent double-counting income already taxed to the owners inside the deferral window.
The final step subtracts the entity’s cumulative net required payment balance from all prior years. If the current year’s number is lower than what has already been paid in, the difference is refundable. Keep prior-year Forms 8752 on hand, because that running balance feeds directly into the current calculation.
When and Where to File
Form 8752 and any payment are due by the 15th day of the fifth month after the close of the entity’s prior tax year, which for most filers is May 15.1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8752 File it separately from the entity’s annual income tax return (Form 1065 for partnerships, Form 1120-S for S corporations).5Internal Revenue Service. Form 8752
The form is paper-filed. Mail it to one of two IRS service centers based on the location of the entity’s principal office:6Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Your Taxes for Form 8752
- Kansas City, MO 64999 — Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
- Ogden, UT 84201 — Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Entities without a principal office in the United States file with the IRS at P.O. Box 409101, Ogden, UT 84409.6Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Your Taxes for Form 8752
How to Pay
Checks or money orders should be made payable to “United States Treasury,” with the entity’s EIN and “Form 8752” written on the payment. The IRS also accepts electronic payments through EFTPS and same-day wire transfers.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8752 (12/2025) EFTPS enrollment is free and lets you schedule payment in advance. For refunds, the current form includes direct-deposit fields, which avoid the wait for a paper check.
Penalty for Paying Late
A missed payment deadline triggers a penalty of 10% of the underpayment, meaning the difference between what was owed and what was paid by the due date.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7519 If the required payment was $12,000 and only $8,000 arrived on time, the penalty is 10% of the $4,000 shortfall, or $400.
The penalty can be waived if the entity shows reasonable cause and the failure was not due to willful neglect.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7519 That generally means something outside the entity’s control prevented timely payment and the entity acted responsibly once the obstacle was resolved. A simple oversight rarely qualifies.
When the Section 444 Election Ends
A Section 444 election stays in effect until something ends it. Common triggers include switching back to the required tax year, liquidating the entity, losing S corporation status, or a partnership joining a tiered structure where the same-year exception doesn’t apply. Willful failure to comply with the Section 7519 payment rules is also a termination trigger, so keeping Form 8752 current matters for any entity that wants to hold on to its fiscal year. Once the election ends for any reason, the entity can never make another one.8eCFR. 26 CFR 1.444-1T
At termination or liquidation, file a final Form 8752 to claim a refund of the entire net required payment balance, meaning the cumulative total of payments made over the years minus any refunds already received.1Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8752 Check Item C on the form to indicate that the election was terminated or the entity liquidated during the year, which tells the IRS to process a full refund rather than a routine annual payment.
The IRS will not release the refund until the later of April 15 of the year following termination or 90 days after Form 8752 is filed. No interest accrues on the refunded amount, so filing early only helps: it starts the 90-day clock and gets the money moving.