(a) In general. Except as provided in paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section, a corporation or an affiliated group of corporations filing a consolidated return will be allowed an automatic 6-month extension of time to file its income tax return after the date prescribed for filing the return if the following requirements are met.

(1) An application must be submitted on Form 7004, “Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Certain Business Income Tax, Information, and Other Returns,” or in any other manner prescribed by the Commissioner.

(2) The application must be filed on or before the date prescribed for the filing of the return of the corporation (or the consolidated return of the affiliated group of corporations) with the Internal Revenue Service office designated in the application's instructions.

(3) The corporation (or affiliated group of corporations filing a consolidated return) must remit the amount of the properly estimated unpaid tax liability on or before the date prescribed for payment.

(4) The application must include a statement listing the name and address of each member of the affiliated group if the affiliated group will file a consolidated return. Upon the timely filing of Form 7004, the 6-month extension of time to file shall be considered as granted to the affiliated group for the filing of its consolidated return or for the filing of each member's separate return.

(b) No extension of time for the payment of tax. Any automatic extension of time for filing a corporation income tax return granted under paragraph (a) of this section shall not operate to extend the time for payment of any tax due on such return.

(c) Termination of automatic extension. The Commissioner may terminate an automatic extension at any time by mailing a notice of termination to the corporation (parent corporation in the case of an affiliated group of corporations filing a consolidated return). The notice shall be mailed at least 10 days prior to the termination date designated in such notice. The notice of termination shall be sufficient for all purposes when mailed to the corporation at the address shown on Form 7004 or to the corporation's last known address. For further guidance regarding the definition of last known address, see §301.6212-2 of this chapter.

(d) No extension for DISCs. Paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section shall not apply to returns filed by a DISC pursuant to section 6011(c)(2).

(e) Exception. In the case of any return for a taxable year of a C corporation that ends on June 30 and begins before January 1, 2026, the first sentence of paragraph (a) of this section shall be applied by substituting “7-month” for “6-month.” For purposes of this paragraph (e), the return for a short period (within the meaning of section 443) that ends on any day in June shall be treated as the return for a taxable year that ends on June 30.

(f) Cross reference. For provisions relating to extensions of time to file Form 1120-POL, “U.S. Income Tax Return for Certain Political Organizations,” see §1.6081-9.

(g) Applicability date. This section applies to requests for extension of time to file corporation income tax returns on or after January 30, 2020. Section 1.6081-3T (as contained in 26 CFR part 1, revised April 2019) applies to applications for an automatic extension of time to file before January 30, 2020.

[T.D. 9163, 69 FR 70548, Dec. 7, 2004, as amended by T.D. 9229, 70 FR 67359, Nov. 7, 2005; T.D. 9407, 73 FR 37366, July 1, 2008; T.D. 9821, 82 FR 33446, July 20, 2017; T.D. 9892, 85 FR 5326, Jan. 30, 2020]