SEC filing deadlines: when every filing is due (2026)
Every SEC filing has a due date, and the dates are all different. A Form 4 has two business days. A 13F has forty-five. A 10-K depends on how big the company is. If you are waiting on a filing, or wondering why the one you want is not out yet, the answer is almost always the deadline.
Here is when each of the common filings is actually due, why the windows differ, and what happens when a company misses one.
The one-page deadline table
This is the whole thing in one place. Business days ignore weekends and holidays; calendar days do not. "After the event" means the clock starts when something happens, not on a fixed date.
| Filing | What it is | Deadline | Counted from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form 4 | An insider bought or sold stock | 2 business days | The trade |
| Form 3 | Someone became an insider | 10 days | Becoming an insider |
| Form 5 | Year-end insider cleanup | 45 days | Fiscal year end |
| 8-K | A material event | 4 business days | The event |
| 10-Q | Quarterly report | 40 or 45 days | Quarter end |
| 10-K | Annual report | 60, 75, or 90 days | Fiscal year end |
| 13F | Fund's stock holdings | 45 days | Quarter end |
| 13D | 5%+ active stake | 5 business days | Crossing 5% |
| 13G | 5%+ passive stake | 45 days (or 5 for some) | Crossing 5% / year end |
The rest of this page walks through why these numbers are what they are, because the "why" is what makes them stick.
Company reports: 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K
Every public company files three kinds of report. Two are scheduled and one is not.
The 10-K is the big annual report, with audited financials and the full business and risk write-up. The 8-K is the opposite: a short "something just happened" filing due four business days after the event, whether that is a CEO departure, an acquisition closing, or an earnings release. The 10-Q sits between them, an unaudited quarterly update filed after the first three quarters.
The 8-K is the one to watch if you want news close to when it happens. The four-day window makes it the closest thing to a real-time feed EDGAR has.
Why the 10-K deadline depends on company size
The 10-K and 10-Q deadlines are not one number. The SEC sorts filers into three buckets by public float, the market value of shares held by outside investors, and bigger companies get less time.
The logic is that a large company has the accounting staff to close its books quickly, and its filings matter to more investors, so it gets 60 days. A small one gets 90. The SEC's own page on the 10-K lays out the same three tiers if you want the source.
So when you see a mega-cap file its 10-K in early March for a December year end, and a micro-cap take until the end of March, neither is late. They are just on different clocks.
Ownership filings: Form 3, 4, 5 and the 13s
The other big group is about who owns the stock. These have their own deadlines, and the fast ones are very fast.
Form 4 has the tightest deadline the SEC runs: two business days after an insider trades. That is why insider buying and selling shows up on EDGAR almost as it happens. The 13F, by contrast, gives funds 45 days, which is why the "what the smart money is buying" headlines are always about six weeks stale.
The activist filings split on intent. Cross 5% of a company and plan to push for change, and you file a 13D within five business days. Cross the same line but stay passive, and you file the slower 13G. Same threshold, very different clock, because one signals a fight and the other does not.
What happens when a filing is late
Deadlines have a small amount of give. A company that cannot make its 10-K or 10-Q date can file a Form 12b-25, the "notification of late filing," usually shown as an NT.
The NT buys 15 extra calendar days on a 10-K or 5 on a 10-Q. File inside that window and the report still counts as on time. Miss it and the company is delinquent, which can cost it the ability to raise money on a shelf registration and, if it drags on, lead to delisting. The NT itself is public, so a late filing is not something a company can hide; it just announces it.
How to track deadlines without watching EDGAR
Knowing the deadlines is half the job. The other half is catching the filing when it actually lands, and refreshing EDGAR by hand is a bad way to do that. Every filing here is free and public on SEC EDGAR, so you can always check one yourself.
To have the important ones come to you instead, the free Superinvestors tracker follows funds and companies and flags new 13Fs, insider Form 4s, and 8-K events as they hit. If you build software, the Edgrapi API returns the same filings as clean JSON, so you can wire the deadlines into your own alerts. The companion explainers on the 10-K, 8-K, Form 4, and 13F each go deeper on a single filing.
Track filings free as they land →
Edgrapi surfaces public SEC filings for research. It is not investment advice. Deadlines here are the standard rules; specific companies can face different dates under SEC orders or exemptions.
Frequently asked questions
When is a company's 10-K due?
A 10-K is due 60, 75, or 90 days after the fiscal year ends, depending on the company's size. Large accelerated filers (public float of $700 million or more) get 60 days, accelerated filers ($75 million to $700 million) get 75 days, and non-accelerated filers (under $75 million) get 90 days. So a December fiscal year end means a big company's 10-K lands by early March.
When is a 10-Q due?
A 10-Q is due 40 days after the quarter ends for accelerated and large accelerated filers, and 45 days for non-accelerated filers. Companies file one after each of the first three quarters; the fourth quarter is covered by the annual 10-K instead, so there are three 10-Qs and one 10-K a year.
How fast does an 8-K have to be filed?
Within four business days of the triggering event. The clock counts business days, so weekends and holidays do not count against it. Some 8-K items, like a Regulation FD disclosure, are due even sooner. That short window is what makes the 8-K the closest thing to real-time company news on EDGAR.
When must an insider file a Form 4?
Within two business days of the trade. Form 4 has the tightest deadline the SEC runs: when a corporate insider (an officer, director, or 10%+ owner) buys or sells the company's stock, they have two business days to report it. That is why insider trades show up on EDGAR almost as they happen.
When is a 13F due?
Within 45 days of the quarter's end. Any institutional manager with $100 million or more in US-listed stocks files a 13F listing its holdings, but the 45-day lag means you are always seeing where a fund stood about six weeks ago, not where it stands today.
What happens if a company files late?
It can file a Form 12b-25 (the 'NT') to get a one-time extension: 15 extra calendar days for a 10-K, 5 extra for a 10-Q. File within that grace window and the report is still treated as timely. Miss it and the filing is delinquent, which can cost the company its shelf-registration eligibility and, if it drags on, lead to delisting.