Form SI-100: the filing that ignores your fiscal year
Biennial, tied to your incorporation month, and a window rather than a date. Three reasons it falls off a calendar built around tax season.
Form SI-100 is the Statement of Information a California nonprofit corporation files with the Secretary of State every two years.
Unlike every other filing on your calendar, it has nothing to do with your fiscal year. It is keyed to the month your articles of incorporation were filed, and you have a six-month window ending in that month.
Why this one gets missed
Three of your four agencies work off your fiscal year. The IRS wants the 990 series, the Franchise Tax Board wants Form 199 or FTB 199N, and the Attorney General’s Registry wants the RRF-1. For a 31 December year end all three land on 15 May. One date, three filings, hard to forget.
The SI-100 is the exception, in three ways at once. It is biennial, not annual. It is tied to your incorporation month, not your year end. And it is a window, not a date.
That is three reasons for it to fall off a calendar built around tax season, and it is why this small form is the one small nonprofits most often discover they have missed.
Working out your window
Corporations Code section 6210 sets the filing period as “the calendar month during which its original articles were filed and the immediately preceding five calendar months.” Six months, ending in your incorporation month. The Secretary of State describes the same thing as a six-month filing window keyed to the month of registration.
| Articles filed in | Your window runs |
|---|---|
| January | 1 August to 31 January |
| March | 1 October to 31 March |
| June | 1 January to 30 June |
| September | 1 April to 30 September |
Then every second year. If you do not know your incorporation month, it is on your articles, and it is also on your record in the Secretary of State’s business search.
What the form actually does
It keeps your officers, your address and your agent for service of process current on the public record. That last one matters more than it sounds: the agent for service of process is who gets handed the papers if your organization is ever sued. A stale agent means legal notice going to someone who left the board three years ago.
The filing fee is $20.
What happens if you miss it
The Secretary of State states it plainly:
“Failure to file the required Statement of Information with the Secretary of State as outlined in statute may result in penalties being assessed by the Franchise Tax Board and suspension or forfeiture.”
Two parts, and the second is the one that bites.
The penalty. $50 for an exempt organization. The Franchise Tax Board assesses and collects it on the Secretary of State’s behalf, and the FTB is explicit that only the Secretary of State can waive it. The Secretary of State notifies the entity first and allows a further period to file before the referral.
The suspension. A suspended corporation is not simply a corporation with a fine. It cannot legally conduct business in California, and it cannot defend itself in a lawsuit. For a nonprofit that holds a lease, employs anyone, or has grant agreements in force, suspension reaches into everything at once.
The asymmetry here is the point. A $20 filing, in a window six months wide, against a consequence that can stop an organization from operating.
How to make sure it does not happen again
Put the window, not a date, in whatever calendar outlives your current board, and put it in the first month of the window rather than the last. A six-month window feels generous in month one and is gone by month six.
Two practical habits. Record your incorporation month somewhere a new treasurer will find it, because it is the one fact this filing depends on and the one fact that leaves with the person who knew it. And check the filing whenever officers change, because that is exactly when the filed record goes stale and exactly when nobody is thinking about the Secretary of State.
Common questions
How often is Form SI-100 filed?
Every two years, during a six-month window that ends in the calendar month your original articles were filed.
Is the SI-100 tied to our fiscal year?
No. This is the one California filing that ignores your fiscal year entirely. It runs on your incorporation month.
What is the filing fee?
The filing fee is $20.
What happens if we file late?
A $50 penalty for an exempt organization, assessed and collected by the Franchise Tax Board on the Secretary of State’s behalf, and continued failure to file can lead to suspension or forfeiture of corporate status.
What does suspension actually mean?
A suspended corporation cannot legally conduct business in California and cannot defend a lawsuit. It is a far larger problem than the filing that caused it.
We think we have missed one. What now?
File the current statement and find out where the record stands. This is usually curable, and the sooner it is addressed the less of it there is to unwind. Bring it to us and we will work out the sequence.
This article is general information about California and federal filing requirements, current as of the date shown. It is not tax, legal, or financial advice for your situation, and reading it does not create a client relationship. Rules change and individual facts matter. Confirm how any of this applies to you before acting on it.
Primary sources
- California Secretary of State — Statements of Information
- California Franchise Tax Board — Penalties and interest
- California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers — Annual renewal
Published 2 October 2026. Every quoted sentence is the agency’s own, checked against the agency’s published page on that date.
A $20 form with a very large downside.
If you are not sure when your window opens, or whether the last one was filed, we will check the record with you. Every engagement is personally led and reviewed by founder Avneet Saini.
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