North Dakota Nonprofit Reporting: The February Corporate Report vs. the September Charitable Organization Report

Direct answer: two reports, one agency, two clocks

A North Dakota nonprofit corporation that is also a registered charitable organization owes two annual reports every year, and both are filed with the Secretary of State through FirstStop. The nonprofit corporate annual report under chapter 10-33 is due on or before February 1 and costs $10. The Charitable Organization Annual Report under chapter 50-22 is due September 1 and costs a separate $10.

They look similar enough to be confused, and the confusion is expensive in both directions. An organization that files in February and assumes the year is handled loses its charity registration in September. An organization that files in September and assumes the same thing accumulates a corporate default that ends in dissolution or revocation.

Everything about them is separate: the statute, the deadline, the fee, the late consequence, the extension rules and the cure. The only thing they share is the agency and the portal.

The February report: nonprofit corporate annual report

This is the chapter 10-33 filing that keeps the corporation itself in good standing. It is due each year on or before February 1, the current fee is $10, and it goes through FirstStop. Two official phrasings circulate for the same date. The statute says before February second and the Secretary of State says on or before February 1, and those describe the same deadline rather than two different ones.

The first report has its own timing rule that catches new organizations. It is not due in the year the corporation forms. It is due in the calendar year following the calendar year in which formation, or foreign authority, became effective. A corporation formed in March 2026 therefore files its first corporate annual report by February 1, 2027.

This report is a corporate filing, not a charity filing. It reports current entity, registered agent, activity, tax code, officer and director information. It says nothing about solicitation and it does not keep a charitable registration alive.

What late means on the corporate side

A late corporate annual report adds $5. That $5 is a late penalty charged in addition to the $10 report fee rather than replacing it, so a late filing costs $15 in total.

A different branch applies to a report that arrived on time but was deficient. Those receive a 30 day correction period under the statute, running from the deficiency notice. It is worth being precise about what that period is: it cures a deficiency in a timely report. It is not a general extension of February 1, and an organization that simply did not file cannot reach for it.

Leaving a default unresolved has a defined path. Chapter 10-33 uses Not Good Standing as the intermediate state before the terminal consequence. After one year of unresolved nonfiling a domestic nonprofit corporation can be involuntarily dissolved, and a foreign corporation’s authority to transact business in North Dakota can be revoked. That is what makes the corporate report worth calendaring properly: the downstream effects reach contracts, grants, banking and licences.

The September report: Charitable Organization Annual Report

This is the chapter 50-22 filing that keeps a charitable registration effective. It is due on or before September 1, the current fee is its own $10, and it also goes through FirstStop. Its financial attachment covers the immediately preceding 12 month period.

Since July 1, 2025 the way that financial information is submitted has changed. The Secretary of State removed the direct financial data entry fields and now requires an upload of specified Form 990 pages, or comparable documents carrying the required income, expense, balance sheet and functional expense information. Form 990 is not the only accepted document, so an organization that does not file a 990 is not locked out. What matters is that the uploaded material actually contains the required information, because an organization still working from the pre 2025 form assumptions can submit an incomplete filing without realising it.

The consequence of missing this one is not dissolution. It is inactivity: the registration becomes ineffective and lawful solicitation stops until the default is cured. That is a faster and structurally different consequence from the one year corporate timeline, and the two should never be reasoned about interchangeably.

Extensions exist on one side only

The charity report has a defined extension process. The request has to be received before the filing deadline, which means before September 1 rather than after it. The Secretary may grant either a one year extension or a standing extension, and standing extensions are limited: they are available for fiscal years ending in June, July or August. Whatever is granted, there is an absolute ceiling, and no extension may move a deadline past December 1.

The corporate report has no equivalent standing extension branch, and the charity extension rules do not transfer to it. An organization holding an approved charity extension into November still owes its corporate annual report by the following February 1 on the ordinary schedule.

The practical consequence is that an extension is never a way to consolidate the two filings into one date. At best it moves one of them within its own system.

A decision framework for the coming year

Start with the corporate question. Is the organization a North Dakota nonprofit corporation, or a foreign nonprofit corporation authorized to transact business here? If yes, the February 1 corporate annual report is owed every year, at $10, beginning in the calendar year after formation or authority became effective. There is no revenue floor and no activity test that removes it.

Then ask the charity question separately. Is the organization registered as a charitable organization under chapter 50-22? If yes, the September 1 Charitable Organization Annual Report is owed every year, at its own $10, with the financial upload attached. Registration status is what triggers it, not corporate status.

If both answers are yes, both reports are owed, both fees are paid, and the two go in on two dates roughly seven months apart. Put February 1 and September 1 in the calendar as separate obligations owned by separate checklists, because the single most common failure here is a board that treats one completed filing as evidence that the year is clear.

If an extension is needed, remember which system offers one. Ask before September 1, on the charity side only, and never plan past December 1.

The complete North Dakota guide carries both reports as separate structured requirements, along with the deficiency, delinquency, reinstatement and reregistration branches that follow from each, every one of them cited to the Secretary of State or the Century Code.