When Are Trust Extensions Due? Form 1041 and 7004 Deadlines

Trust extensions are due on the same date as the original Form 1041. For a calendar-year trust, that means Form 7004 must reach the IRS by April 15 of the following year. Filing it on time gives the trust an automatic five-and-a-half-month extension, moving the Form 1041 deadline to September 30. No further extension is available after that.

The Original Form 1041 Deadline

Form 1041 is the U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts, filed by the fiduciary to report the trust’s income, deductions, gains, losses, and distributions to beneficiaries.¹ The extension attaches to whatever the original due date happens to be, so that is the date to pin down first.

Calendar-year trusts: Form 1041 is due April 15 of the following year. For tax year 2025, that’s April 15, 2026.
Fiscal-year trusts: The return is due on the 15th day of the fourth month after the fiscal year ends. A trust whose year closes June 30 files by October 15.
Terminating trusts: When a trust ends mid-year, the final return covers a short year ending on the termination date and is due on the 15th day of the fourth month afterward. The fiduciary checks the “Final return” box.²

If a deadline lands on a weekend or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day.

The Extended Due Date

Form 7004 gives trusts an automatic five-and-a-half-month extension.³ For a calendar-year trust, the extended deadline is September 30. For tax year 2025, that’s September 30, 2026. Fiscal-year trusts count five and a half months from their own original due date.

This is where trust fiduciaries who also handle personal returns can get tripped up. Individual returns get a six-month extension to October 15. Trusts get five and a half months, not six, and no additional extension is available beyond what Form 7004 grants.³ September 30 is the wall.

How to File Form 7004

Form 7004 is the Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File Certain Business Income Tax, Information, and Other Returns. The extension is automatic; the IRS does not review or approve a reason. Filing the form on time is what triggers it.³

You’ll need the trust’s name and EIN as they appear in IRS records, the address, the form code for Form 1041 (listed in the Form 7004 instructions), the tax year, an estimate of total tax owed, and any payments and credits already made. A mismatched name or EIN will invalidate the extension, so verify both before submitting.⁴

Electronic Filing

Form 7004 can be e-filed for Form 1041 extensions through IRS-approved tax software or the Modernized e-File system. E-filing also lets you pay any estimated tax due through Electronic Funds Withdrawal in the same transaction.⁴

Filing by Mail

If you mail the form, the address depends on where the trust’s principal office is:

Trusts in eastern states (from Maine down through Georgia and west through Wisconsin) send Form 7004 to the IRS in Kansas City, MO 64999-0019.
Trusts in Alabama, Alaska, and other southern and western states send it to Ogden, UT 84201-0045.
Trusts with a principal office in a foreign country or U.S. possession use P.O. Box 409101, Ogden, UT 84409.⁵

An Extension to File Is Not an Extension to Pay

The extension gives the trust more time to submit the return. It does not give more time to pay tax owed.⁶ Whatever the trust owes is still due by the original April 15 deadline (or the fiscal-year equivalent). If the exact figure isn’t ready, estimate it and pay that estimate with Form 7004. Underpaying will produce interest and possibly a penalty; paying nothing is worse.

Quarterly Estimated Tax Deadlines Don’t Move

Trusts expecting to owe $1,000 or more in tax generally must pay quarterly estimates on Form 1041-ES. For calendar-year trusts, the 2026 tax year installments are due April 15, 2026; June 15, 2026; September 15, 2026; and January 15, 2027. The fourth installment can be skipped if the 2026 Form 1041 is filed by January 31, 2027, with the full balance paid.⁷

Filing Form 7004 changes none of these dates. To avoid an underpayment penalty, a trust generally needs to pay at least 90% of the current year’s tax or 100% of the prior year’s tax, whichever is smaller.⁸

Schedule K-1 Deadlines Move With the Extension

When the trust extends Form 1041, the deadline for delivering Schedule K-1 to each beneficiary shifts to the same extended date.⁹ Helpful for the fiduciary, awkward for the beneficiaries. A beneficiary whose K-1 arrives after their own April 15 personal deadline has to either file their own extension using Form 4868 or file on estimates and amend later.

Late or incorrect K-1s carry a penalty of $340 each, with an annual cap of $4,098,500. Intentional failures raise the per-K-1 penalty to $680 with no cap. Reasonable cause can excuse the penalty.²

Grantor Trusts and Section 645 Elections

Not every trust files Form 1041. Grantor trusts can use one of several optional methods that report income directly on the grantor’s return, and when a trust uses one of those methods there is no Form 1041 to extend.² Separately, when a decedent’s estate and a related revocable trust both exist, a Section 645 election lets the fiduciary treat the trust as part of the estate, which can allow fiscal-year reporting and shift deadlines accordingly. Standard trust deadlines resume when the election period ends.

State Extensions Are Separate

Most states with an income tax require a separate state trust return, and extension rules vary by state. Some states automatically honor a federal Form 7004; others require a separate state extension form filed by the state’s original deadline; a few use different extension lengths or due dates altogether. Check each state where the trust files rather than assuming the federal extension carries over.

Penalties for Missing the Deadline

Missing the original deadline without an extension, or missing the extended September 30 date after getting one, triggers two penalties that run at the same time.

Failure to File

The late-filing penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax per month or partial month, capped at 25%.² Returns more than 60 days late face a minimum penalty of $525 or the total tax due, whichever is less, for returns required to be filed in 2026.¹⁰ Fraudulent failure to file runs 15% per month up to 75%.

Failure to Pay

The late-payment penalty is 0.5% of the unpaid balance per month, also capped at 25%.¹¹ When both penalties apply in the same month, the failure-to-file penalty is reduced by the failure-to-pay amount, but the combined charge still accumulates quickly. Interest runs on top of both. For the first quarter of 2026, the underpayment rate is 7% per year, compounded daily.¹²

1
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1
3
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.6081-6 – Automatic Extension of Time To File Estate or Trust Income Tax Return
4
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 7004
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Internal Revenue Service. Where To File Form 7004
6
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Reminds Taxpayers an Extension to File Is Not an Extension to Pay Taxes
7
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Form 1041-ES – Estimated Income Tax for Estates and Trusts
8
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 306, Penalty for Underpayment of Estimated Tax
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1
10
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 653, IRS Notices and Bills, Penalties and Interest
11
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty
12
Internal Revenue Service. Interest Rates Remain the Same for the First Quarter of 2026