How to Fill Out Form 2553: A Worked Example, Box by Box

The IRS instructions for Form 2553 cover every situation the form can handle. Almost everyone filling it in has one situation: an LLC with one or two owners that wants to be taxed as an S corporation from the start of the next calendar year. This page fills that form in with real values, box by box, and then shows exactly what changes if you have co-owners or have already missed a deadline. For the general rule behind each box rather than one worked case, read the full line-by-line instructions.

The current form is Rev. December 2017 and the current instructions are Rev. December 2020. Both are still current as of July 2026, and the form is free from irs.gov.

What to have in front of you

• Your EIN, exactly as the IRS issued it, and the legal entity name attached to it. That is item A and the name box.
• Formation date and state from your articles of organization. Items B and C.
• The address you used on Form SS-4, and whether it has changed since. Item D depends on that answer.
• The first day of the tax year you want covered. Item E deserves more thought than every other box combined.
• For each owner: legal name, home address, Social Security number, ownership percentage and the date they acquired it. Columns J to N.
• A printer and a pen. Then either a fax machine or a trip to the post office for certified mail.

The example we are filling in

Riverbend Studio LLC is a single-member design consultancy. It was formed in Delaware on June 14, 2023 and has been run from Denver, Colorado ever since. Alex Chen is the only member and has owned 100% from day one. The LLC has never filed Form 8832, so it is currently a disregarded entity reported on Schedule C. Profit is running around $140,000, which is comfortably past the point where the election pays for itself.

Alex is filling the form in today, July 30, 2026, for an election effective January 1, 2027. That is allowed — an entity that already has a prior tax year may file at any time during the preceding tax year, and 2026 is the preceding tax year. Nothing about 2026 changes: it stays a Schedule C year, and Alex must not start running payroll early.

Page 1, box by box

That is the whole of page 1 for this filing. The reference below gives the general rule for each box and the specific mistake that most often follows it, including the cases this example does not hit.

Why line E says January 1, 2027

The election must be filed no more than 2 months and 15 days after the start of the tax year it takes effect, or at any time during the preceding tax year. For a calendar-year business the first route lands on March 15. The count is subtler than it looks — the two-month period ends the day before the numerically corresponding day, so January 1 produces March 15 rather than March 16.

For tax year 2026 that deadline was Monday March 16, 2026, since March 15 fell on a Sunday and IRC §7503 rolled it forward. It has passed. So an election effective January 1, 2026 is no longer a timely filing, and January 1, 2027 is the earliest date Alex can still claim on time. The 2027 deadline is Monday March 15, 2027, and the window is open now. Our deadline guide works through mid-year and fiscal-year starts.

Page 2 — one row, five columns

Page 2 is the shareholder consent table. It has exactly seven rows. Alex uses one and leaves six blank.

Parts II, III and IV — all skipped here

Part II applies only if you chose a fiscal or 52-53 week year in item F. Part III applies only if a qualifying trust holds an interest and you are making a QSST election. Part IV applies only to an LLC filing a late election. Riverbend hits none of the three, so all three stay empty — and empty is the right answer for the large majority of filings. Print and send the complete form anyway, including the pages you left blank.

Sending it

Form 2553 cannot be e-filed. It goes by fax or mail to one of two IRS service centers — where to mail Form 2553 explains the routing rule — and the center is chosen by the principal business, office or agency — where the business actually operates. Riverbend was formed in Delaware but is run from Denver, so it files as a Colorado business and goes to Ogden. Routing on the state of incorporation is the single most common misrouting error, and Delaware-formed entities are the most exposed to it. Look up the IRS mailing address and fax number for your state before you send anything.

Fax is faster and gives you a transmission report the same day; certified mail gives you a return receipt. One or the other is the only evidence of your filing date, so scan it and keep it permanently. Our filing guide covers cover sheets and what to do when a fax fails. Acceptance arrives as Notice CP261, and the IRS says to expect a determination in about 60 days — a stated expectation, not a published processing estimate. Form 2553 processing time covers what happens after you file and when to chase it.

If there is more than one owner

Page 1 does not change at all. Page 2 does:

• Every member gets a row, with their own home address, SSN and acquisition date. Ownership percentages in column L must total 100.
• Every member signs column K personally, by hand. A managing member cannot consent on behalf of the others, and a refusal from any one of them ends the election outright.
• A spouse with a community property interest signs too — in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin — even if they are not named in the operating agreement.
• More than seven members means additional copies of page 2. The form only holds seven rows.
• Check who the members are before anything else. If a partnership, another LLC, a corporation or a nonresident alien holds an interest, the entity is not eligible at all and the form is wasted effort.
• Check the operating agreement for a preferred return or distribution waterfall. Disproportionate distribution or liquidation rights can create a second class of stock, which is disqualifying. Differences in voting rights are fine.

With co-owners, each working member also needs their own defensible salary once the election takes effect. There is no percentage formula for this and the widely repeated 60/40 split has no authority behind it — see reasonable compensation.

If you are filing late

Missing the deadline does not void the form. Under IRC §1362(b)(3) a late election is simply treated as an election for the following tax year unless you ask for relief. You will not be rejected; you will quietly get a start date you did not want. To keep your original date, request relief under Rev. Proc. 2013-30 within 3 years and 75 days of the line E date. An extension to file Form 1120-S does not extend that window.

Four things change on the form itself:

1. 1Write `FILED PURSUANT TO REV. PROC. 2013-30.` across the top margin of page 1, including the final period. It is not a form field, so you write it in by hand or add it before printing.
2. 2Item I is no longer blank. It must address reasonable cause for the failure and the diligent action you took on discovering it — both prongs. A statement covering only the first prong is facially deficient.
3. 3Column J widens. Everyone who held an interest at any time from the first day of the election year through the filing date must sign — including former members who have since sold out entirely.
4. 4An LLC must complete Part IV. The deemed entity classification election under Reg. §301.7701-3(c)(1)(v)(C) only happens when Form 2553 is timely, so a late-filing LLC makes the five corporate classification representations instead. Do not file a separate Form 8832 as well — that directly contradicts representation 3.

The conditions, the wording of the statement and the exact look-back set are covered in the late election guide and our walkthrough of Rev. Proc. 2013-30.

Final check before it goes

1. 1The entity name matches IRS records for the EIN in item A, character for character.
2. 2Line E is the first day of the intended tax year, and you are inside the filing window for it.
3. 3Item F box 1 is checked and Part II is empty, unless you genuinely chose a fiscal year.
4. 4Every owner has a row on page 2 and a handwritten signature in column K.
5. 5Column L percentages total 100, and column M holds SSNs rather than the EIN.
6. 6Page 1 is signed, titled and dated by hand.
7. 7The service center matches where the business operates, not where it was formed.
8. 8You have kept a scanned copy of the complete signed form and your fax confirmation or mailing receipt.