The SGO compliance calendar: §25F deadlines and recurring obligations

First: what is binding and what is still proposed

Treasury released proposed and temporary §25F regulations on October 1, 2026. The temporary regulations (T.D. 10057) cover registration in the IRS SGO portal, donor acknowledgments and IRS reporting, and the state election and SGO-list procedures; they take effect 60 days after Federal Register publication, apply from September 1, 2026, and expire October 1, 2029. The proposed regulations cover the annual certification, the audit, the 90% spending test and its timing, payment methods, income verification, and disqualified persons. Those can still change before they are finalized, but SGOs, donors, and states may rely on them for contributions made on or after January 1, 2027, as long as they follow them in their entirety and consistently, until final regulations are published. Comments are due December 1, 2026, and a public hearing is scheduled for December 15, 2026. We track changes on our news feed and in the proposed-regulations explainer.

A few things this calendar depends on don’t exist yet. The IRS had not opened the SGO portal as of October 1, 2026, and the uniform donor-number format comes with registration. Form 8525 (the donor’s credit form) and the form for the annual certification have not been released, and the IRS has not yet published the area-median-income figures used to check eligibility. The dates below come from the rules as released; the forms will fill in the mechanics.

The first cycle, date by date

Here is how the dates fall for an organization on a calendar tax year that wants to be on a state’s 2027 list. A fiscal-year SGO moves the Form 990, audit, 90%, and substantial-contributor dates to its own year end; the January 31, February 28, and state-list dates are on the calendar year for everyone.

• Fall 2026. Form the organization and apply for 501(c)(3) status; adopt bylaws and written policies that expressly require the §25F operating rules; open the §25F segregated account; apply through your state’s process once it opens. Register in the IRS SGO portal as soon as the IRS opens it.
• January 1, 2027. The credit starts for donations made on or after this date. It is also the deadline for a state’s 2027 advance election (Form 15714), and the date by which a new organization must be formed if it will reach a 2027 list while its 501(c)(3) application is pending.
• February 15, 2027. Deadline for each state’s 2027 SGO list. A state can add to or replace its list until then; an organization added later waits for the 2028 list.
• Throughout 2027. Record each donor’s designation when the gift is made, deposit designated gifts in the §25F account, assign unique donor numbers, verify each applicant’s income, and pay scholarships only through the allowed payment methods.
• January 2 to September 30, 2027. Window for states to file advance elections for 2028.
• October 1, 2027 to January 1, 2028. States submit their 2028 lists. Your state’s own application deadline will come earlier.
• December 31, 2027. Year end: determine who became a substantial contributor for 2027, at the organization level and the §25F account level. Income received in 2027 now has one more year to be spent.
• January 31, 2028. Written acknowledgment to every 2027 donor.
• February 28, 2028. Report each donor’s name, address, and 2027 total to the IRS through the SGO portal.
• May 15, 2028. Form 990 for 2027, with the §25F certification and report attached; a copy goes to each state that listed you.
• During 2028. Annual financial and programmatic audit covering 2027, sent to each state that listed you.
• December 31, 2028. At least 90% of 2027 income must be spent on scholarships for eligible students.

Our news story on the February 15 state-list deadline and the January 1 formation date covers the first-year state side in more detail.

One-time, at formation

• Incorporate as a nonprofit, get an EIN, and obtain 501(c)(3) status (Form 1023 or 1023-EZ) as a public charity; a private foundation can’t be an SGO. If you want a 2027 list while your application is pending, form the organization by January 1, 2027 and file on time so the exemption reaches back to formation. See how to start an SGO and the startup-cost estimator.
• Register in the IRS SGO portal as soon as possible and preferably before you appear on any state list (temporary regulations). You provide the organization’s name, EIN, address, phone number, year of formation, and taxable year, plus a contact who can legally bind the organization or holds a Form 2848 power of attorney. Registration is how you get the uniform donor-number format; until you register, you can’t issue the acknowledgments donors need.
• Open the §25F segregated account before the first designated gift. Every SGO must keep one, holding only qualified contributions and their earnings, and every gift a donor designates goes in. A multistate SGO needs a separate account for each state and must let donors choose how their gift is split among those states. If you use the 85% safe harbor, the 90% test is measured against this account.
• Get authorized to do business and register for charitable solicitation in each state whose list you’ll seek. Under the temporary regulations, that plus compliance with the state’s general charity laws is what makes you “located in” the state; no in-state office is required. Then apply for each participating state’s SGO list.
• Adopt governing documents and written policies that expressly require the §25F operating rules, beyond a general promise to follow the law. For an organization with no operating history, a state may rely on those documents to list it.
• Decide whether you’ll be a single-state or multistate SGO. A multistate SGO must be at least 85% scholarship granting by activity; a single-state SGO that meets the same 85% test can use the safe harbor that applies the 90% test to its §25F account.
• Set up disqualified-person screening before the first award: officers, directors, trustees, anyone who helps select recipients or set awards (committee members included), substantial contributors, and their families cannot receive scholarships.

Every year

• Donor acknowledgments by January 31, one per donor covering the prior calendar year, with the SGO’s EIN, the designated total, the unique donor number, and whether any goods or services were provided (with a description and good-faith value). Electronic delivery works if the donor consents (temporary regulations).
• IRS contribution report by February 28: each donor’s name, address, and total, filed through the IRS SGO portal under each donor number (temporary regulations).
• IRS Form 990, due the 15th day of the 5th month after your fiscal year ends (May 15 for calendar-year orgs), with the annual §25F certification and report attached (proposed). You certify the segregated account, the operating tests, no awards to disqualified persons, location in each state, donor acknowledgments, and the audit, and you report applications, awards, the highest, lowest, and average award, the number of schools, spending by expense category, your income, and the amount and percentage spent for the prior and current year. A copy goes to each state that lists you at the same time. An organization that isn’t required to file a Form 990 sends the form separately by the same 15th-day-of-the-5th-month date.
• Annual financial and programmatic audit, furnished to each state on whose list you appeared (proposed). Over $500,000 in total receipts: an external, independent professional or accredited body. $500,000 or less: a committee of independent persons unrelated to management may do it, signing the report under penalties of perjury. It covers how you take applications, select recipients, set award amounts, and pay, plus expense verification, location, and the operating rules. See our story on the $500,000 audit threshold.
• Tutoring and special-needs safe harbor audit, only if you use it (proposed): an annual third-party audit, given to the state, confirming school eligibility, need-based selection by the school, qualified providers, independent diagnosis of need, and the quality and impact of the services.
• At each fiscal year end: determine substantial contributors for the year, and confirm that at least 90% of the prior year’s income has been spent (proposed).
• Authorize disclosure on the IRS SGO list for each calendar year through the portal; the IRS publishes only SGOs that authorize it (temporary regulations).
• State reports required by each participating state, plus charitable-solicitation renewals and your corporate annual report / registered-agent renewal.
• Re-appear on each state’s SGO list, the state opt-in is an annual election (see the cycle below).

Continuous / per-transaction

• Hold the 90/10 ratio: at least 90% of each year’s income spent on scholarships by the end of the following year. Under the proposed rules, income is all gross receipts on a cash basis (or, under the 85% safe harbor, the §25F account’s contributions and earnings; for a multistate SGO, each state account’s). Money counts as spent when paid, the oldest income is spent first, a multi-year award counts only as each payment goes out, and a refund from a school or vendor is new income with its own deadline. Read the 90/10 deep dive and our story on the two-year spending window.
• Record each donor’s designation at the time of the gift (it is irrevocable, and it can cover part of a gift), deposit designated gifts in the §25F account (by state, as the donor directs, for a multistate SGO), and track them under the donor’s unique donor number for the January and February filings.
• Applicant income verification before awarding: household income for the prior calendar year at or below 300% of area median gross income, checked by one of four methods (direct documents such as tax returns and pay stubs; a benefit letter from the last 12 months for SNAP, TANF, WIC, Section 8 housing, or SSI; the low-income-area tutoring and special-needs safe harbor; or foster-child status). See income verification for SGOs.
• Residence check: a scholarship from a state’s §25F account goes only to students who live in that state, though they may attend school elsewhere (military families and families living on Indian lands have broader rules).
• Pay only through the allowed methods (proposed): tuition, fees, and room and board straight to the school; other vendors directly if verified and unrelated to the student; families only as reimbursements backed by a receipt; or a qualified digital wallet. Check for duplicate awards for the same expense before each payment. See disbursing funds to schools.
• Screen every award against your disqualified-person list. Blind or anonymized selection is no exception, and an officer or committee member who leaves stays disqualified through the end of the following year.
• Observe the rest of the §25F operating rules continuously: no earmarking for a particular student, and award priority to renewals, then siblings (for tutoring and special-needs awards, priority can follow need).
• If you use the 85% safe harbor or operate in more than one state, keep records showing that at least 85% of your activities are scholarship granting; you certify it each year.

The annual state-list cycle

The credit only reaches a state’s residents when that state elects to participate and submits its list of qualified SGOs to the IRS, and that election repeats each year. Under the temporary regulations, an election covers one calendar year. For 2027, a state files its advance election on Form 15714 by January 1, 2027 and submits its list by February 15, 2027. From 2028 on, a state files an advance election between January 2 and September 30 of the prior year and submits its list between October 1 and January 1 (through 11:59 p.m. on January 1); a state past its first year can also elect by submitting the list in that window. A state that never submits its list is out for the year.

As an SGO, your job is to stay qualified and on the list in every state you serve, every cycle. The state must include every organization located there that seeks inclusion and meets the requirements, and it reviews your audit and annual certifications before it certifies you again. A state can remove an SGO during the year only through a procedure that gives it due process, and it must honor your own request to be removed. Watch the state opt-in tracker for where each state stands, and see the federal SGO list for how state lists feed the IRS SGO list donors check.

Quick-reference table

Frequently asked questions