An image forming apparatus, comprising: a print mechanism; a sheet discharge unit located above the print mechanism, the sheet discharge unit having a sheet discharge port and a sheet mount unit that mounts thereon a sheet discharged from the sheet discharge port; a reading unit disposed above the sheet discharge unit so as to cover substantially an overall upper portion of the sheet mount unit; an operating panel including an operating face; and an opening portion formed between a lower surface of the reading unit and a sheet mount face of the sheet mount unit; wherein, when the downstream side in a discharge direction of a sheet discharged from the sheet discharge port to the sheet mount unit is set as a front side of the image forming apparatus, the opposite side is set as a rear side and a direction perpendicular to the front-and-rear direction is set as a width direction, the operating panel extends to the front side of the apparatus in the reading unit so that the tip thereof is located at the same position as the front end portion side of the sheet mount unit or projects from the front end portion side; and the opening portion is opened so that the sheet can be taken out from the front side of the image forming apparatus; characterized in that, when a direction along the operating face of the operating panel is set as a projection direction on a plane vertical to the width direction and the distance from the base portion to the tip portion of the operating panel in the projection direction is defined as a projection amount, the operating panel is provided with an area where the projection amount from the reading unit of the operating panel is set to be smaller than the maximum projection amount of the operating panel. a print mechanism; a sheet discharge unit located above the print mechanism, the sheet discharge unit having a sheet discharge port and a sheet mount unit that mounts thereon a sheet discharged from the sheet discharge port; a reading unit disposed above the sheet discharge unit so as to cover substantially an overall upper portion of the sheet mount unit; an operating panel including an operating face; and an opening portion formed between a lower surface of the reading unit and a sheet mount face of the sheet mount unit; wherein, when the downstream side in a discharge direction of a sheet discharged from the sheet discharge port to the sheet mount unit is set as a front side of the image forming apparatus, the opposite side is set as a rear side and a direction perpendicular to the front-and-rear direction is set as a width direction, the operating panel extends to the front side of the apparatus in the reading unit so that the tip thereof is located at the same position as the front end portion side of the sheet mount unit or projects from the front end portion side; and the opening portion is opened so that the sheet can be taken out from the front side of the image forming apparatus; characterized in that, when a direction along the operating face of the operating panel is set as a projection direction on a plane vertical to the width direction and the distance from the base portion to the tip portion of the operating panel in the projection direction is defined as a projection amount, the operating panel is provided with an area where the projection amount from the reading unit of the operating panel is set to be smaller than the maximum projection amount of the operating panel.