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Plain-English guide · for small nonprofits
2 CFR 200.344, explained in plain English
Updated September 2026
The grant ends and a clock starts. Miss it and the federal agency is required to record your material failure to comply in SAM.gov, which every future funder can see.
After the period of performance ends you have a fixed window to send final reports and to liquidate what you owe. Subrecipients run a shorter clock than recipients, which is the detail pass-through entities forget when they set subaward terms.
The deadlines
| Final reports | Liquidate obligations | |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient | 120 calendar days after the period of performance ends | 120 calendar days |
| Subrecipient | 90 calendar days | 90 calendar days |
The federal agency, for its part, is expected to complete closeout within one year of the end of the period of performance. All three figures were read from eCFR in August 2026 and re-checked on 1 September 2026.
Why the subrecipient gap matters
If you are a pass-through entity, your subrecipients owe you their final reports 30 days before you owe yours. That gap is deliberate: it is the time you need to review what they sent and roll it into your own report. A subaward that gives a subrecipient the same 120 days as you leaves you nothing. See §200.332.
Costs after the end date
The period of performance ending does not mean every cost stops. Administrative closeout costs may be incurred through the final report due date and must be liquidated by then, charged to the final budget period unless the agency directs otherwise. That allowance is in §200.403 and it is narrow: closing the grant out, not continuing the program.
What to actually do
Put the closeout date in the calendar at award, not at the end
The clock starts whether or not anyone noticed the grant ended.
Give subrecipients the shorter deadline in writing
In the subaward, at the start. Asking for it late does not work.
Liquidate, do not just report
Unpaid invoices sitting past the window are a closeout problem, separate from the report.
What happens if you miss it
This is stronger than most people expect, and it changed in the 2024 revision. Under §200.344(i), if you do not comply with the section, including submitting all final reports, the federal agency must report your material failure to comply with the award's terms and conditions in SAM.gov, using CPARS to enter it. Not may. Must. SAM.gov is where federal funders look before they award, so a missed closeout is not a quiet internal note, it is a visible record.
The agency may also close the award out using whatever information it has, which usually means unsupported costs get disallowed rather than resolved in your favor.
This is general information, not legal or accounting advice. Federal grant rules change and are applied differently by different agencies and auditors. Check with your auditor, your grant officer, or an attorney before relying on any of it.
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Sources: 2 CFR Part 200 (eCFR), read 29 August 2026 and re-checked 1 September 2026. Federal grant rules change; check the current text before relying on this.