Missed the Form 2553 deadline? Rev. Proc. 2013-30 gives you up to 3 years and 75 days to make a late S corp election — here's who qualifies and how to file it.
You meant to elect S corporation status. You ran payroll like an S corp, maybe you even told your bookkeeper you were one. Then someone — often a lender, a new accountant, or the IRS itself — points out that Form 2553 was never filed, or was filed late. The good news: in most cases, this is fixable. Rev. Proc. 2013-30 lets you make a late S election up to 3 years and 75 days after the intended effective date, without a user fee, as long as you meet a few requirements and had reasonable cause for missing the deadline.
This matters because the S election is usually the whole point of the structure — it's what turns a chunk of your profit from self-employment-taxed income into distributions. If you're still weighing whether S status is right for you at all, start with our full comparison of LLC vs S Corp vs C Corp in 2026. This post is for owners who already decided and just missed the paperwork.
Form 2553 is due 2 months and 15 days into the tax year you want the election to take effect. For a calendar-year business, that's mid-March. A brand-new entity gets the same window measured from the start of its first tax year — typically the date it first had shareholders, assets, or began doing business.
Miss that window and, by default, your election takes effect the following year. A single-member LLC stays a disregarded entity for the current year — meaning all profit lands on Schedule C with self-employment tax, exactly the outcome you were trying to avoid. (If you're not sure what that default looks like, our guide to how a single-member LLC is taxed walks through it.) Late-election relief exists to rescue the current year — or even a prior year — when the miss was an honest one.
Rev. Proc. 2013-30 consolidates the IRS's late-election relief procedures into one streamlined path. You qualify if all of the following are true:
Notice what's not on the list: a user fee. Streamlined relief under Rev. Proc. 2013-30 is free. That's a big deal compared to the alternative, which we'll get to.
The IRS doesn't publish a checklist, but in practice these explanations succeed regularly:
What doesn't work: "we decided later that S status would have saved us money." Relief requires that you intended the election from the effective date — it isn't a tool for retroactive tax planning. If your 1120-S filings, payroll, and books all tell a consistent S corp story from day one, your intent is easy to demonstrate. Speaking of payroll: an S corp owner needs to run a real salary, so if you're cleaning this up, read our one-person S corp payroll guide while you're at it.
One timing note: if you're filing a late 1120-S along with the late election, penalties for the late return can often be addressed separately — first-time abatement is frequently available. Don't let fear of the return penalty stop you from fixing the election.
If you're outside the 3-year-75-day window, can't show consistent S corp reporting, or the facts are messy (say, some years were filed as a C corp), the streamlined path is off the table. Your remaining options:
And if the reason you're reading this is that S status no longer fits — profits dropped, or you're restructuring — the answer may not be rescuing the election at all. Our guide to revoking an S corp election covers when it makes sense to go the other direction.
Most missed S elections are fixable for free within 3 years and 75 days — but only if your filings told a consistent S corp story. File the relief request before the IRS forces the issue.
A missed Form 2553 is one of the most common — and most fixable — entity mistakes small business owners make. If you intended S status, have a reasonable explanation, and reported consistently, Rev. Proc. 2013-30 gets you relief with a marked-up 2553 and a signed statement, no user fee required. Get it filed correctly the first time, because a rejected request burns credibility and time.
Taxagon's CPAs and EAs prepare late S election relief requests — and set up entities so the election is never missed in the first place through our business formation service. If you'd rather not navigate it alone, reach out.
This article is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation. Tax law changes; figures are for the years stated.
Talk it through with a licensed US tax professional — we'll tell you honestly whether it applies to your situation.
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