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Plain-English guide · for nonprofits
2 CFR 200.344, explained in plain English
Updated September 2026
Under §200.344 you must send all final reports and pay what you owe within 120 calendar days after the period of performance ends. Subrecipients must do the same for their pass-through within 90 days, or sooner if agreed.
The deadlines
These are the closeout deadlines in the Uniform Guidance, counted from the end of the period of performance:
| 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.
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, when your periods end on the same day. 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
Under §200.344(i), if you do not comply with this section, including final reports, the federal agency must report your material failure to comply in SAM.gov, through CPARS, the federal performance-record system. The duty to report is not new, but the 2024 revision dropped the old one-year grace period and moved the record to SAM.gov. Federal agencies review these SAM.gov records before larger awards, so a missed closeout becomes a visible record.
The agency must also close the award out with the information it has, and costs you cannot support may be disallowed.
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.