Hawaii · reference

Hawaii calendar and forms

Every Hawaii date that matters for the 2026 return, from the last estimated payment in January 2027 to the extended due date in October, and a plain-English guide to the forms an ordinary Hawaii filer will meet: the N-11, Schedule X, the N-200V voucher, the N-15 for movers and the HARPTA forms for anyone selling property from afar. Plus free filing, refund tracking and how to reach the Department.

By Charles Trautman, EA, editor

Need to Know Tax · written from Hawaii Department of Taxation sources, November 3, 2026; updated November 12, 2026 after the election · not yet reviewed by a Hawaii practitioner

Hawaii runs five days behind the IRS. The return is due April 20, not April 15; the estimated payments fall on the 20th of April, June, September and January; and the extension runs to October 20. The extension is automatic and there is no form for it, but it holds only if 100% of the properly estimated tax is paid by April 20, and a federal Form 4868 does not count. Miss the payment and the extension is void: the late-filing penalty runs from April 20 along with the late-payment penalty and interest. That one rule, pay in full by the 20th to earn the extension, is the Hawaii calendar in a sentence.

The form side is a single return with a cluster of schedules. Full-year residents file Form N-11; part-year residents and nonresidents file Form N-15. Credits go on Schedule X (the refundable ones for residents) and Schedule CR (the rest), and most of the other forms below are vouchers, worksheets or one-purpose attachments that apply only when they apply. Hawaii Tax Online, the Department of Taxation’s own portal, files the N-11 and N-15 free, takes payments by bank debit free, and runs Where’s My Refund.

The 2027 filing season, dated

Hawaii dates for the 2026 return and 2027 payments
Date	What happens	Form
Wednesday, January 20, 2027	Fourth and final 2026 estimated payment due.	N-200V
Late January 2027; the IRS announces the date in January	The Department begins accepting 2026 returns, in step with the IRS opening. Hawaii Tax Online free filing opens with it.	N-11, N-15
Monday, February 1, 2027	Employers furnish W-2s to employees and file the Hawaii copies with the Department; January 31 is a Sunday.	W-2 / HW-2
Tuesday, April 20, 2027	Form N-11 or N-15 due, and all 2026 tax due. Pay 100% of the properly estimated tax today to earn the automatic six-month extension. First 2027 estimated payment due.	N-11, N-15, N-200V
Monday, June 21, 2027	Second 2027 estimated payment. June 20 is a Sunday.	N-200V
Monday, September 20, 2027	Third 2027 estimated payment.	N-200V
Thursday, September 30, 2027	Honolulu home-exemption claim deadline for the 2028–2029 property tax year; other counties set their own dates. County business, not the Department’s.	County form
Wednesday, October 20, 2027	Extended due date for the 2026 N-11 or N-15. Available only to filers who paid in full by April 20 or are due a refund.	N-11, N-15
Thursday, January 20, 2028	Fourth 2027 estimated payment.	N-200V
Monday, April 22, 2030	Last day to amend the 2026 return for a refund on a Hawaii-only change: three years from the due date, or two years from payment, whichever is later.	N-11 or N-15 marked amended
Property tax runs on each county’s calendar, with bills in two installments (Honolulu: August 20 and February 20). Nothing from the property tax bill goes on the Hawaii income tax return except as an itemized deduction on Hawaii Schedule A.

How the extension really works

The 2025 N-11 instructions put it plainly: you get a six-month extension to file without filing a form, but the extension is not an extension of time to pay, and it is conditioned on paying 100% of your properly estimated tax by the April due date. A filer who expects a refund has nothing to pay and simply files by October 20. A filer who expects to owe sends the estimated balance by April 20 with Form N-200V, or by bank debit on Hawaii Tax Online, which does the same job without the voucher. If the April estimate falls short, penalty and interest run on the shortfall from April 20; if it is well short, the Department can treat the extension as never granted. The Department does not accept a federal Form 4868 as a Hawaii extension and does not need a copy of one.

Estimated payments

Hawaii requires estimated payments when the tax expected for the year, after withholding and credits, is $500 or more and withholding and credits will cover less than the smaller of 60% of this year’s tax or 100% of last year’s tax. The 100% test is available only if last year’s return covered a full twelve months. A full-year Hawaii resident who had no tax liability last year on a twelve-month return owes no estimated payments this year, and there is no higher tier for high incomes. Payments can go in as one lump by April 20 or in four equal installments on the 20th of April, June, September and January, each with Form N-200V or on Hawaii Tax Online. The penalty for a late or short installment is figured on Form N-210.

Who gets caught: retirees drawing from an IRA or a 401(k), because Hawaii taxes those in full and for 2026 has no withholding on them; anyone with a large capital gain or a Roth conversion; landlords and the self-employed, whose GET filings pay no income tax; and new arrivals whose mainland employer never started Hawaii withholding.

The forms, in the order a filer meets them

Hawaii individual income tax forms, tax year 2026
Form	What it does	Who needs it
N-11, Individual Income Tax Return (Resident Form)	The return. Starts from federal AGI on line 7, applies Hawaii additions and subtractions on lines 8 to 19 (Social Security, exempt pensions, out-of-state bond interest, depreciation differences), the $8,000 / $16,000 / $12,000 standard deduction or Hawaii itemized deductions, the $1,144 exemptions, the brackets, then credits, withholding and payments.	Everyone who lived in Hawaii all of 2026
N-15, Individual Income Tax Return (Nonresidents and Part-Year Residents)	Splits every income line into a Hawaii column and a total column, prorates the standard deduction and exemptions, and taxes Hawaii-source income plus all income earned while a resident.	Anyone who moved in or out during 2026, or a nonresident with Hawaii wages, rentals, a Hawaii business or a Hawaii property sale
Schedule X, Tax Credits for Hawaii Residents	The refundable credits: the food/excise credit (with Form N-311), the low-income household renters credit, the child and dependent care credit. Paid even when no tax is due.	Residents with federal AGI under $60,000 joint / $40,000 single, renters under $30,000 of Hawaii AGI, and parents paying for child care
N-356, Earned Income Tax Credit	Figures the Hawaii EITC at 40% of the federal credit (verify sunset), refundable.	Anyone claiming the federal EITC
Schedule CR, Schedule of Tax Credits	Collects the other credits: the credit for income tax paid to another state, the renewable energy credit from Form N-342, the pass-through entity credit from Form N-362, and the rest.	Residents with income taxed by another state, solar owners, owners of an electing S corporation or partnership
N-342, Renewable Energy Technologies Income Tax Credit	The solar (and wind) credit: 35% of system cost up to $5,000 per residential system. Act 24 (2026) adds certification by the State Energy Office and, from 2027, an income limit; check the 2026 instructions for which steps apply to a 2026 installation (verify).	Anyone who placed a system in service in 2026
N-200V, Individual Income Tax Payment Voucher	The one voucher for everything: estimated payments, the April 20 balance or extension payment, and payments on an amended return. Not needed for payments made on Hawaii Tax Online.	Anyone sending money by mail
N-210, Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates and Trusts	Figures the penalty when estimated payments and withholding fell short of the 60% / 100% safe harbor.	Anyone who owed $500 or more and underpaid during the year
HW-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance and Status Certificate	Hawaii’s W-4. Given to the employer, not filed with the return. The 2026 Booklet A tables already reflect the higher standard deduction, so most employees need no change.	New hires, and anyone adjusting Hawaii withholding
N-288, N-288A, N-288B, N-288C and N-289 (HARPTA)	Withholding on a nonresident’s sale of Hawaii real estate, 7.25% of the gross price: the buyer’s return (N-288) and statement (N-288A), the seller’s application to reduce the withholding before closing (N-288B) or for an early refund after it (N-288C), and the exemption certificate for sellers who qualify (N-289). The withholding is credited on the seller’s N-15.	Nonresidents selling Hawaii property, and the buyers who must withhold
N-139, Moving Expenses	Hawaii’s own moving-expense form, still on the Department’s list; whether the deduction remains available for 2026 after Act 35 is for the 2026 instructions to say (verify).	Anyone who moved for work in 2026
Two more that come up: Form N-362 for the pass-through entity tax credit, and Form N-110 to claim a refund due a deceased taxpayer. Current-year forms are on the Department’s alphabetical forms list; prior years are on a separate page.

Filing, paying and checking a refund

Hawaii Tax Online, at hitax.hawaii.gov, is the Department’s own system. It files Form N-11 and N-15 free, with or without an account; takes payments by bank debit free (card payments go through a processor that charges a fee); records estimated payments; shows Department letters; and runs Where’s My Refund under the Individual tile. The Department’s guidance for refund status is 7 to 8 weeks after an e-filed return and 9 to 10 weeks after a paper return, with the status updated once a day. Direct deposit is faster than a paper check. Commercial software and Free File Alliance products also carry the Hawaii return, usually for a fee on the state side. Hawaii was not part of IRS Direct File for the 2026 season, and the IRS has since ended the program.

Taxpayer Services answers at 808-587-4242, toll-free 1-800-222-3229, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Hawaii time. The Department’s main office is at 830 Punchbowl Street, Honolulu, with district offices in Wailuku (808-984-8500), Kaunakakai (808-553-5541), Hilo (808-974-6321), Captain Cook (808-323-4597) and Lihue (808-274-3456). Paper returns go to the Department of Taxation at P.O. Box addresses printed in the N-11 instructions; the address differs for returns with a payment and returns without.

Worked example: earning the extension

A self-employed filer expects to owe about $3,200 of Hawaii tax for 2026 but will not have the books closed by April 20. Three ways it can go.

	Pays $3,200 by April 20	Pays $2,000 by April 20	Pays nothing until October
Return filed	October 1, 2027	October 1, 2027	October 1, 2027
Extension	Valid: 100% paid	At risk: the Department may treat a large shortfall as no extension (verify)	Void: nothing paid
Late-filing penalty	$0	$0 if the estimate was reasonable	Runs from April 20 on $3,200
Late-payment penalty and interest	$0	On $1,200, April 20 to October 1	On $3,200, April 20 to October 1
Tax paid	$3,200	$3,200 plus penalty and interest on $1,200	$3,200 plus both penalties and interest

Penalty rates are in the N-11 instructions and change little; the point is the structure. The payment, not a form, is what creates the Hawaii extension. An overpayment in April comes back as a refund or is applied to 2027 estimates.

Behind the scenes: why the 20th

Hawaii’s due dates are written into its own statute as the twentieth day of the fourth month after the close of the tax year, and the estimated payment dates follow the same pattern. The state has never tied them to the federal calendar, which is why Hawaii filers get five extra days in April. The no-form extension follows the same logic as the payment rule: the Department wants the money in April and will wait for the paperwork, so it made full payment the price of the extension and dropped the request form.

What to bring

Every W-2 and 1099 with Hawaii withholding, and Form 1099-R statements for distributions with none
The 2026 estimated payments made, with dates and amounts; Hawaii Tax Online lists them
Last year’s N-11, for the 100% safe harbor and any carryovers
Form 1099-G for a 2025 Hawaii refund if you itemized federally for 2025
Closing statements for any Hawaii property bought or sold, including the N-288A if HARPTA was withheld
For a mover: the dates of arrival and departure, and the other state’s return, for Form N-15 and the credit for taxes paid elsewhere
For a side business or rental: the GET license number and 2026 GET filings

Questions people ask

Do I have to file anything to get the Hawaii extension?

No form. The extension to October 20 is automatic, but only if you have paid 100% of your properly estimated tax by April 20 or are due a refund. Send the payment with Form N-200V or make it on Hawaii Tax Online. A federal Form 4868 does nothing for Hawaii.

Is the Hawaii return really due April 20 and not April 15?

Yes. For the 2026 return the date is Tuesday, April 20, 2027. The estimated payment dates are also the 20th: April, June, September and January. When the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday the date moves to the next business day, which is why the June 2027 payment is due June 21.

Do I need to file a Hawaii return if I owe nothing?

If your income was above the filing threshold in the N-11 instructions, yes, even if credits wipe out the tax. And filing is the only way to collect the refundable food/excise, renters, child care and earned income credits, which can be worth several hundred dollars to a household that owes no Hawaii tax at all.

How long does a Hawaii refund take?

The Department says to check Where’s My Refund 7 to 8 weeks after e-filing or 9 to 10 weeks after mailing a paper return. Direct deposit arrives sooner than a check. Returns claiming refundable credits may be held longer for review.

I sold my Hawaii condo after moving to the mainland and 7.25% was held back at closing. How do I get it back?

File Form N-15 for the year of sale, report the gain (or loss) and claim the HARPTA withholding shown on your N-288A as a payment. If the withholding is far more than the tax, Form N-288C asks for an early refund before the return is due. The federal home-sale exclusion flows through to Hawaii, so a former principal residence may owe nothing.

I take IRA distributions. Why does Hawaii keep sending me a penalty notice?

Because Hawaii taxes IRA distributions in full, has no withholding on them for 2026, and charges an underpayment penalty when the balance due is $500 or more and you did not meet the 60% / 100% safe harbor. Make four estimated payments on Form N-200V, or one payment by April 20 covering 100% of last year’s Hawaii tax. From 2027 you will be able to elect Hawaii withholding on the 1099-R under Act 118.

The 20th, not the 15th, and the payment is the extension

Put four N-200V dates on the calendar, pay in full by April 20 even if the return comes in October, and let Hawaii Tax Online do the filing for free.

Written by Charles Trautman, EA, editor  ·  Need to Know Tax, Lone Tree, Colorado
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Forms and official pages named in this article

Sources and where to check

Updated November 12, 2026, after the November 3 election · tax year 2026 figures · awaiting review by a Hawaii practitioner — use the right article