SMLLC S-corp 1120s refund confusion - first year filing mistakes

This is a common misunderstanding with single-member LLCs that elect S-corporation status. Let me clarify a few things: First, a single-member LLC that elects to be taxed as an S-corporation is NOT a disregarded entity. Once you make the S-corp election, your business is treated as a corporation for tax purposes. So you were actually correct to use Form 941 with your EIN for payroll taxes. The confusion might be coming from the difference between income taxes and employment taxes. For employment taxes (Social Security, Medicare, federal income tax withholding), you should be using Form 941 with your EIN. This is separate from your personal income taxes. If TurboTax is showing a refund, I'd double-check that you've properly entered all your payroll information. Sometimes the software misinterprets S-corp data, especially in your first year. Make sure you've correctly reported your salary as an employee of the S-corp on your personal return as well.

I went through this exact nightmare last year and discovered https://taxr.ai was an absolute lifesaver. I was also confused about SMLLC S-corp filing requirements and kept getting conflicting advice from different sources. What helped me was uploading my docs to the taxr.ai system - it analyzed everything and pinpointed exactly where my confusion was coming from. In my case, I had properly filed the 941s but messed up how I was reporting it on my 1120S. The AI caught that I was double-counting certain payments and explained how the payroll taxes and income taxes interact for S-corps. Their explanations were way clearer than what my accountant told me.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai last week after seeing this post, and it was exactly what I needed! I uploaded my botched 1120S and 941s, and within minutes it identified that I had been incorrectly reporting my officer compensation. The analysis showed me precisely which boxes on my 1120S were wrong and how it affected my K-1. What impressed me most was how it explained the relationship between the 941 deposits and the credit on the 1120S - something none of the articles I read online made clear. It also generated a checklist for fixing my previous year's return that I could send directly to my accountant. Saved me hours of research and probably thousands in incorrect tax payments!

If you're getting a refund from the IRS because of this confusion, be prepared to wait FOREVER. I made a similar mistake with my S-corp last year, and it took 8 months to get my refund. Tried calling the IRS business line over 20 times and could never get through. Finally discovered https://claimyr.com and their YouTube demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 30 minutes when I'd been trying for weeks. The agent was able to look up my refund status and tell me exactly what was causing the delay (they needed verification of my S-election date). Completely worth it to skip the hold times and actually talk to someone who could fix the issue. My refund was processed within 2 weeks after that call.

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After my frustration hit a breaking point trying to get info about my business tax situation, I tried Claimyr yesterday. Totally expected it to be BS, but I was desperate after trying to call the IRS for THREE WEEKS with no success. To my genuine shock, I got a call back in about 45 minutes saying they had an IRS agent on the line. The agent was able to confirm that my S-corp election was properly processed and that my refund was approved but stuck in review. She even gave me a specific timeframe for when to expect the deposit. For anyone dealing with S-corp refund delays like the original poster - don't waste weeks of your life trying to call. This seriously saved me so much time and frustration.

Just to add another perspective - make sure you're paying yourself a "reasonable salary" as an S-corp owner. This is the #1 thing the IRS looks at with S-corps. If your business made $100k but you only paid yourself $20k in salary (with the rest as distributions), that's a red flag. The IRS wants their FICA taxes, and if they think you're underreporting your salary to avoid them, that can trigger an audit. Especially if you're getting refunds, they may look more closely at your filings.

Has anyone here used both TurboTax and H&R Block for S-corp returns? I'm having similar issues with TurboTax and wondering if H&R Block handles single-member LLC S-corps better. The TurboTax interface seems super confusing for this specific situation.