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IRS Form 2553: What It Is, Who Files It, and When It’s Due

IRS Form 2553 elects eligible businesses to be treated as S corporations for federal tax purposes. Learn the deadline, eligibility rules, filing steps, and late-election relief.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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IRS Form 2553 is the election a qualifying business files to be treated as an S corporation for federal tax purposes. It is not an annual tax return: after an election takes effect and remains in force, the corporation generally files Form 1120-S for each covered tax year.

What Form 2553 does

Form 2553, Election by a Small Business Corporation, is used by a domestic corporation or other eligible entity to elect S corporation status under Internal Revenue Code section 1362(a). The election generally means the corporation’s income, losses, deductions, and credits pass through to its shareholders for federal income tax purposes, although an S corporation may owe tax on certain income.

The IRS says an entity eligible to elect to be treated as a corporation must use Form 2553 to make the S corporation election. Depending on the entity’s classification and the conditions in the instructions, an eligible entity may make this election without also filing Form 8832. See the IRS Instructions for Form 2553.

Who may make the election

Filing the form does not by itself make an entity eligible. The business must meet every applicable S corporation requirement. The IRS instructions address factors including domestic status or eligible entity classification, the number and types of shareholders, and the corporation’s stock structure.

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  • The corporation generally may have no more than 100 shareholders, subject to specified family-counting rules.
  • Shareholders must be of permitted types; some entities and nonresident aliens are not permitted shareholders.
  • The corporation generally must have one class of stock, though differences in voting rights may be allowed.
  • Certain types of corporations are excluded.

Ownership and entity-classification details can change the result. Review the full eligibility rules in the IRS instructions before filing.

When Form 2553 is due

For an election to take effect for a tax year, the general deadline is no more than 2 months and 15 days after the beginning of that tax year. The business may also file during the tax year before the year the election is to take effect. First-year and short-year calculations can differ, so determine the business’s intended effective date and tax-year start rather than relying on a calendar-year example.

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Situation in the IRS instructions Example filing deadline
Existing corporation seeking a January 1 effective date for a calendar tax year March 15; February 29 in a leap year
New business whose first tax year begins January 7 March 21

These are IRS examples, not universal deadlines. For an entity’s first tax year, the effective-date calculation generally uses the earliest date it first had shareholders or owners, first had assets, or began doing business. Use the current form and instructions to determine the date to enter and calculate the deadline.

How to file

  1. Confirm eligibility and the effective date. Apply the IRS eligibility tests and determine the tax year for which the election is intended.
  2. Complete Form 2553 and obtain required consents. The form generally requires shareholder consent. Missing signatures can mean the election is not considered timely.
  3. Send it to the IRS using the current instructions. The filing address or fax option depends on where the entity’s principal business, office, or agency is located. Check the live IRS instructions for the correct routing before submitting; addresses and procedures can change.
  4. Keep the submitted form and proof of delivery. Retain a complete copy and evidence of when and how it was sent.

If the election is late

Late-election relief is conditional; simply writing “late” on Form 2553 does not guarantee acceptance. Revenue Procedure 2013-30 provides a route for certain late S corporation elections when requirements are met. In general, the entity must have intended S corporation treatment from the requested effective date, the failure must have been solely lateness, and the entity must have reasonable cause and act diligently after discovering the error. The entity and shareholders generally must also have reported consistently as though the election were in effect.

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The usual request period is no more than 3 years and 75 days after the intended effective date. The IRS instructions describe an exception for certain corporations outside that period if additional conditions are satisfied. Late relief does not fix a separate eligibility defect or missing shareholder consent. Follow the current instructions for the required notation, reasonable-cause explanation, and submission route; a private letter ruling may be needed if the relief requirements are not met.

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What to expect after filing

The IRS says filers should receive confirmation that the election was accepted or not accepted. If neither notice arrives within two months, follow up with the IRS; if the filing requests a letter ruling, the stated follow-up period is five months.

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Once the election is accepted and remains in effect, the corporation generally files Form 1120-S for each tax year covered by the election. It should not file Form 1120-S for a year before the election takes effect. See the IRS’s S corporation guidance.

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