USA Any penalties for late EIN applications and/or late corporate income tax filing?

[ian.nyc]

Hi Accountant Forums Community,

I have created a Delaware C corporation in December of 2020.

There hasn't been any business activity yet other than some bills that I could have the corporation pay, e.g. around the incorporation, the 2020 Delaware franchise fee etc.

The situation is about to change, so now I want to apply for an EIN application and have two questions:

1. Will this be considered late and could there be any penalties involved?

2. I believe for the late filing of the 2020 tax return, there shouldn't be any penalty as long as the corporation doesn't owe any tax, is that correct?

Thank you very much in advance for your help!
Ian

 

[kirby]

For item 2, IRS will assess a Penalty for failing to file at 60 days late even if no tax was due. So go get this taken care of.

 

[ian.nyc]

For item 2, IRS will assess a Penalty for failing to file at 60 days late even if no tax was due. So go get this taken care of.

Thank you so much, @kirby! On the internet, I only found IRS late fees for S corporations, partnerships, individuals etc but I will now try to file as soon as possible. I hope the IRS won't be too hard since it's a new business and existed only a few days in 2020.

For item 1, my further research makes me believe that there should not be a penalty because it even seems to be possible to file a tax return without an EIN, although it is recommended to have one.

 

[kirby]

For item 1, there is no direct penalty. It just hinders other filings, like filing employment taxes.
Suggest you end worrying and researching this and just end your problems by filing what you need to file.