The Year-End Checklist for Self-Managed HOA Boards: November Through April

A treasurer who can balance a checkbook can do everything on this list. The problem is that every item has a date attached, and nobody hands a volunteer board a calendar. Boards usually learn about the tax return or the notice deadline after it has passed. This checklist is for associations whose fiscal year matches the calendar year.

General information only. This is not tax or legal advice. State filing deadlines and owner-notice periods vary by state and by your bylaws, so confirm the specifics with your attorney and a CPA.

Now through November, lock in next year. Find three things in your bylaws and state law: when the board has to adopt the budget, how long before that owners must receive the draft, and whether owners get a vote or a chance to reject it. Count backward from January 1, then add a cushion. The adopted budget should show the reserve contribution as its own line, taken from the current reserve study; study and funding requirements differ by state. Look at your insurance declarations page and write down the renewal date, leaving time to compare quotes, and check coverage against what your governing documents require, confirm the property deductible, and make sure the board knows who pays it after a claim. Pull every vendor contract and note its end date, any automatic renewal, and how far ahead you must give notice to cancel. A missed notice window can lock you into another year at a higher rate.

In December, close the books cleanly. Match the operating and reserve accounts to the December 31 bank statements, and if possible have someone other than the person who writes the checks do it. Collect a Form W-9 from each vendor. It gives you the vendor's legal name and taxpayer ID, which you need for any 1099, and the IRS instructions describe backup withholding when a payee has not provided a taxpayer ID, so it is far easier to get the form before the last check goes out than to chase it in February. Decide which payments count as 2026 and which wait for January, write the rule down, and ask your CPA how late-December checks should be treated. Then list each vendor, their 2026 total, and whether you have a W-9.

In January, the first deadline is Form 1099-NEC, due Monday, February 1, 2027. For payments made in 2026, the IRS instructions set the reporting threshold at $2,000 per payee for the year. That is up from $600 for earlier years, so older advice you find online may be out of date, and the IRS says the amount may be adjusted for inflation starting with calendar year 2027, so look it up again next year instead of assuming. Copies go to the vendor and to the IRS by January 31, which falls on a Sunday in 2027 and so moves to the next business day. There is no automatic extension for the 1099-NEC, only a limited hardship exception. Electronic filing may be required, and the IRS e-file threshold of 10 counts all your information returns together, not each form type separately. Typical recipients are landscapers, painters, handymen and others paid for services. Payments to corporations are generally not reported, though legal fees are, and card payments are reported by the processor on a different form, not by you.

The association's tax return is due April 15, 2027 for a calendar-year association. A nonprofit corporation under state law is not automatically exempt from federal income tax, and many associations file an annual return, so ask your CPA whether yours must. You generally have two choices. Form 1120-H is a simpler return designed for homeowners associations: money owners pay as dues and assessments is treated as exempt function income and left out of taxable income, and what remains, such as interest earned on reserve accounts and payments from non-owners, is taxed at a flat 30%. Form 1120 is the regular corporate return; it is more work, and the association's income is not excluded the way 1120-H does it. To use 1120-H, the association must meet tests each year: at least 60% of gross income must be exempt function income, at least 90% of expenses must go to maintaining association property, and no individual can profit from net earnings. The election is made separately each year by filing the return. If you need more time, file Form 7004 by April 15. It generally gives six months to file but does not extend the time to pay, so estimate and pay any tax by April, because late filing costs 5% of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25%. Ask your CPA to compute the tax both ways before choosing, and whether your surplus needs a resolution about applying it to next year's assessments.

Check the annual meeting notice rules. The bylaws and state law say how many days' notice owners must get, what the notice must contain, and how it must be delivered. Work backward from the meeting date, leaving room to fix a mistake without rescheduling.

If the association is incorporated, the state probably requires a periodic report, and the rules differ sharply. In Florida the statute sets January 1 to May 1 each year, and an unfiled report can mean the corporation cannot sue in state courts and can face dissolution. In Colorado each entity has an assigned report month and the state allows filing two months before or after it. In California, nonprofits file every two years, and associations that manage a common interest development file a separate statement along with it. Look up your own entity record. Some states let you update the registered agent and principal office address when you file the report; when new officers are elected, update the state record and the bank signers too.

Finally, archive the records: reconciled statements, W-9s, filed 1099s, the tax return, insurance policies, contracts and minutes, stored together. Retention periods vary by state and by your records policy, so ask your attorney and CPA how long to keep each category.

The one-paragraph calendar: November, adopt the budget and deliver it to owners, review insurance, and check vendor cancel-by dates. December, reconcile every account to December 31, collect W-9s and set a payment cutoff. By January 31 (February 1 in 2027), 1099-NECs to vendors and the IRS. Before your annual meeting, send the required notice. Between January 1 and May 1 in Florida, and on whatever schedule your state sets elsewhere, the state annual report. By April 15, the association's tax return or an extension request, with any tax paid. After the meeting, update the registered agent, officers and bank signers, and archive the year's records. Put these dates on a shared calendar now, with a reminder two to four weeks before each one, then take the list to a CPA who can tell you which parts apply to you.