Founder's Year-End Checklist (tax prep, BOI, bookkeeping, etc.)

Happy New Year! David here, former accountant & CEO/founder at Fondo. We’ve helped 1,000+ startups with their bookkeeping, taxes, and tax credits and answered thousands of questions about deadlines and what’s due. We built Fondo so we could make this easy and take it all off of your plate. Another founder I know recently posted a request for an end-of-year checklist and I thought that was a great idea so here you go -- hope it helps:

January 1 (PAUSED, for now) - BOI (Business Information Filing) Report

Please note: Voluntary filings are being accepted by FinCEN, due date and enforcement is currently paused (could get resumed with new due date sometime next year)

The BOI report is part of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). It requires certain U.S. companies to report detailed information about their owners to FinCEN, a government agency. Late penalties are $591/day and up to 2 years in prison (currently not enforced).

• The BOI filing deadline was originally January 1, 2024.

• On December 3, 2024, a U.S. court blocked the BOI reporting requirement with a preliminary injunction.

• On December 23, 2024, a motions panel in the Fifth Circuit Court temporarily lifted the injunction, allowing enforcement to resume with a new due date of January 13, 2025

• On December 26, 2024, the Fifth Circuit’s merits panel vacated the motions panel’s stay, reinstating the preliminary injunction.Current Status: BOI reporting is once again on hold nationwide, meaning startups are not currently required to file, pending further appeals and arguments.

The FinCEN.gov/boi website has been updated to reflect this latest move by the Fifth Circuit — “In light of a recent federal court order, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.” The court filing is live: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/24/24-40792..pdf

January 31, 2025 - 1099 Filings

Each year, beginning with the year of incorporation, if your startup paid any vendor that is NOT a corporation (LLC, Sole Proprietors, Individuals, Lawyers, & Landlords) $600 or more, you need to file IRS Form 1099 with both the vendor & the IRS.

Why? When you pay these types of consultants/independent contractors/vendors, you do not withhold/pay payroll tax. One way the IRS knows these folks got paid is if you tell them via the 1099 they require Corporations (you) to file. The 1099 form also outlines to the contractor how much they were paid by you so they can file on their personal taxes.

There are various types of Form 1099. 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC are the most common ones that startups need to worry about.

• Deadline to file with IRS and Independent Contractor: January 31st

• Tax Owed: $0; informational filing only

• Late Penalties: $50+/form

Learn more: Founder’s Guide to 1099 Filings

Get it done before the January 31 deadline ✅

Your accountant should be able to help you with this or you can complete and file this IRS form. If you don’t have an accountant yet, Fondo would love to help you file your 1099s. Join 1,000+ founders who use Fondo and let us file your 1099s → our YC Pricing to file your 1099s starts at $99: tryfondo.com/sign-up

March 1, 2025 - Delaware Franchise Tax filing

All Delaware Corporations are legally required to file Delaware Franchise Tax each year

• Deadline: 3/1

• Tax Owed: $450+

• Penalties: $200 +1.5%/mo of unpaid balance

Who needs to file?

Once your startup is incorporated as a Delaware C Corporation, you are legally required to file Delaware Franchise Tax each year — whether or not the company has any income, expenses, or financial activity.

What to look out for

There are two methods to calculate what you owe to Delaware: Authorized Shares Method (AS) and Assumed Par Value Capital Method (APVC). You can use the method that results in lesser tax which is pretty much always APVC. Delaware will by default tell you your tax owed via the AS method, usually resulting in $100k+ in tax owed...this is not right. Use the APVC method and you can expect your DE franchise tax to be about $400 per $1M in Gross Assets + $50 DE filing fee.

Get it done before the March 1 deadline ✅

If you don’t have an accountant yet, or are busy building your startup to PMF and beyond, Fondo would love to take this off of your plate and make sure you are filed correctly for the lowest amount due possible for $1 as part of our TaxPass trial: fondo.ai/1

Learn more: Founder’s Guide to Delaware Franchise Tax

April 15, 2025 or October 15, 2025 - Federal & State Corporate Tax filings

Each year, beginning with the year of incorporation, startups need to file & pay:

US Corporate Income Tax

• Deadline: 4/15 (or 10/15 with extension)

• Tax Owed: $0+

• Tax Credits: up to $500k (even if you are not profitable you can take advantage of these cash-back tax credits, the average Fondo customer gets back $21,000 each year)

• Penalties: 5%/mo of unpaid balance; if not filed by deadline disqualified for Tax Credits

Please note: if you are an international founder, or if you have a foreign subsidiary the penalties for missing this deadline start at $10,000 (Learn more: International Founder’s Guide to Corporate Taxes)

State Corporate Income Tax

• Deadline: 4/15 (or 10/15 with extension)

• Tax Owed: $0+

• Penalties: Varies (~5%/mo of unpaid balance)

This due date is the filing deadline and also the tax extension deadline.

If you don’t have an accountant yet and are not profitable we recommend you file a federal tax extension to give yourself more time and maintain eligibility for tax credits.

Get it done before the April 15 deadline ✅

Fondo would love to take this off of your plate and make sure you are filed correctly for the lowest amount due possible

These deadlines are included with our TaxPass subscription: tryfondo.com/taxpass or for $1 as part of our TaxPass trial: fondo.ai/1

Learn more: Founder’s Guide to Corporate Taxes, Founder’s Guide to Tax Credits

Bookkeeping

What is bookkeeping?

Categorizing all of the financial transactions across all your financial systems in one general ledger and then reconciling the data with bank/credit card/payroll statements to ensure all financial & accounting reports are accurate: Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, etc.

Does my startup need bookkeeping?

Yes, because filing your corporate taxes requires your Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, and other financial reports.

Bookkeeping is required for:

• Corporate taxes

• Investor requests (sometimes during due diligence & post fundraise)

• 409a Valuations

• Tracking financial data on accrual basis

• Budgeting

• Decision making based on financial metrics

Learn more: Founder’s Guide to Bookkeeping

December 31 - Information preparation

Here is what you will need to provide to your tax preparer to get all of your deadlines covered:

• Last year’s corporate tax returns, if incorporated before 2024

• IRS EIN Letter

• State Tax IDs

• W-9 forms for all non-corporations your startup paid more than $600 during the year

• Payroll tax returns: 940 & 941 for 2024

• Cap Table as of 12/31

• Financial Statements for 2024 (Fondo can prepare these for you when you sign up for bookkeeping)

Let Fondo take it all off your plate ✅

Fondo can take all of this off of your plate -- get started with your $1 TaxPass trial here: https://fondo.ai/1