IRS Approved My S-Corp Election for 2026 Instead of 2025 - Need Urgent Help!

The good news is that this is fixable - the IRS does sometimes make errors in processing S-Corp elections. What likely happened is either a processing error at the IRS or possibly a minor issue with how a date field was completed on your Form 2553. Your best course of action is to call the IRS Business & Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933. Explain that you received approval for your S-Corporation election but with the wrong effective date. Have your EIN, company information, and a copy of your submitted Form 2553 ready when you call. The representative should be able to review your file and may be able to correct the effective date administratively. If the phone representative can't resolve it, you may need to write a letter to the IRS service center that processed your election, including a copy of your original Form 2553 and the approval letter, explaining the error and requesting correction.

After dealing with a similar issue last year with my Form 2553, I ended up using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it was a game-changer. Their system analyzed my IRS approval letter and original submission, then basically told me exactly what went wrong - turns out I had put the wrong date format in one of the fields which confused the IRS processing system. The cool thing was they gave me a detailed explanation of what likely happened and generated a correction letter template specifically for my situation. I just customized it slightly, sent it to the IRS address they recommended, and my election date was fixed within 3 weeks. They also identified a couple other minor issues that might have caused problems down the road.

I just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after trying it for my S-Corp election issue. I was skeptical at first (as you could tell from my question), but it actually worked better than expected. I uploaded my Form 2553 and IRS approval letter, and within minutes it identified that I had checked the "prospective corporation" box but entered dates that made it look like an existing corporation with a tax year change. The service generated a detailed letter explaining the discrepancy, cited the relevant IRS procedure, and even included the correct IRS address to send it to. I called the IRS first as a double-check, and they confirmed I needed to send a written request. I sent the letter taxr.ai helped me create, and just got confirmation yesterday that my election date was corrected to 2025! Would definitely recommend to anyone dealing with form filing issues - saved me from paying my accountant for extra hours figuring this out.

After reading this thread, I have to mention another option that saved me HOURS of frustration with a similar S-Corp issue last year. I tried calling the IRS Business line for two weeks and couldn't get through. Then I used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and it was incredible. They have this system that gets you through the IRS phone queue and calls you when an agent is ready. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c For my S-Corp election issue, I was connected to an IRS agent in about 45 minutes (instead of waiting on hold forever or getting disconnected). The agent was able to see that my election date was incorrect due to a processing error and fixed it right on the call. Saved me weeks of back-and-forth letters and uncertainty.

I need to apologize for my skepticism earlier and share what happened. After posting my doubts about Claimyr, I decided to try it myself since I was getting nowhere with the IRS on my own (calling about a different issue, but still business-related). I was honestly shocked when my phone rang about an hour after setting it up, and there was an actual IRS representative on the line! The service had navigated all the phone menus and waited on hold for me. The agent was able to help resolve my issue in about 15 minutes. What really impressed me was that I had tried calling the same number myself for three days straight and kept getting the "try again later" message or disconnected after 45+ minutes on hold. Definitely keeping this service in my toolkit for future tax issues - sorry for doubting!

Maybe I'm missing something, but couldn't this just be a simple typo when they processed your form? I had an issue with my LLC last year where they transposed two digits in my EIN on some paperwork. I just called the Business line (took a few tries to get through) and they fixed it on the spot once I reached someone. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one.

Quick question - did you file Form 2553 yourself or use a tax professional? I've seen this exact issue before with several clients, and it was usually because the form wasn't filled out correctly. Specifically, in Part I, there's a box for "date corporation first had shareholders" and one for "effective date of election" - if these aren't consistent with your narrative, the IRS defaults to the next tax year.

I went through something very similar when I converted my LLC to S-Corp last year. The IRS pushed my election to the following year, and it turned out to be a combination of timing issues and how I filled out the shareholder information section. Here's what I learned: if you converted from LLC to C-Corp in December 2024 but didn't have actual shareholders until after that date, the IRS might have used the shareholder date as your starting point rather than the incorporation date. Also, if you filed Form 2553 more than 75 days after either the incorporation date OR the date you first had shareholders (whichever is later), they automatically push it to the next tax year. My recommendation is to call the IRS first like others suggested, but also check your original form to see if there's a date discrepancy that might explain their decision. If it was truly just a processing error, they can usually fix it over the phone. If there was a technical issue with your filing timing or dates, you might need to request relief under the "reasonable cause" provisions, which requires a written explanation. Don't panic though - I've seen this resolved both ways, and worst case scenario, being a C-Corp for one year isn't the end of the world if you plan accordingly.