The S-Corp election, state by state.
S-Corp is a tax status, not a type of company. An LLC or a corporation elects it, keeps its own legal form, and changes how the profit is taxed. The election runs through the IRS on Form 2553 and brings salary requirements with it. Whether it is worth making, and what your state does with the result, is the part that moves.
Four things to settle before you elect.
The election is one form and a set of consequences that outlast it. These four are what people get wrong, and the last one is the reason this topic has a page per state rather than a single answer.
A tax election, not an entity
Electing S-Corp status does not convert your company into something else. An LLC stays an LLC and a corporation stays a corporation. What changes is how the business is taxed and what the owners have to do about payroll once the election is in force.
IRS Form 2553
The election itself is federal, made on Form 2553, and it carries a deadline. The date it is filed decides which tax year it applies to, so the timing is part of the decision rather than an administrative detail bolted on at the end.
Owner salary requirements
An owner who works in an S-Corp is subject to salary requirements. That is the ongoing half of the decision. The election is a one-time filing; the payroll obligation that follows it runs every month afterwards, and it is what people underestimate.
What your state does with it
The federal election is identical in all 51 jurisdictions. How the state treats the result is not, which is why every page in this section carries a section on when the election makes sense there rather than a single national verdict.
The election is federal. The arithmetic is local.
Pick your state.
Each state page covers the election from that state's point of view: when it makes sense there, the Form 2553 deadline, the salary requirements that follow, how the calculation is worked out, and the mistakes that come up most often.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
You tell us what the business earns and how the owners are paid today. We work through whether the election fits, file Form 2553 against the right tax year, and set up the payroll it assumes.
Look at the numbers
The election is worth making at some levels of profit and not at others. Start with what the business actually earns and what the owners take out of it, because that is the whole calculation.
Check the entity fits
The election sits on top of an entity that already exists. Confirm which one you hold, who owns it, and how the owners are paid today, because all three feed the filing.
File Form 2553
The election goes to the IRS on Form 2553, with the effective date set against the tax year you want it to cover. The deadline is part of the form, not an afterthought.
Set up payroll
Once the election is live, the salary requirements start. That means payroll for owners working in the business, and books that show it the way the election assumes.
One form to the IRS. A payroll habit for as long as it lasts.
The rest of Secretary of State directory.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
Secretary of State
The Secretary of State, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State annual report
The annual report, state by state
All 51 states → HubArticles of Amendment
Articles of amendment, state by state
All 51 states → HubBusiness license
Business license requirements, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State business search
Secretary of State business search, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State Certificate of Good Standing
Certificate of Good Standing, state by state
All 51 states → HubEntity conversion
Entity conversion, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State DBA
Secretary of State DBA, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on Secretary of State directory.
The questions people ask before they elect.
Is an S-Corp a type of company?
No. It is a tax status that an existing company elects. An LLC that elects it is still an LLC, with the same members, the same operating agreement and the same registration on the state's record. A corporation that elects it is still a corporation. Nothing about the legal form changes; what changes is how the profit is treated and what the owners owe themselves in salary.
Can an LLC elect S-Corp status?
Yes. The election is open to LLCs and corporations, which is why every page in this section is written for both. For an LLC it is a tax layer applied to an entity that already exists on the state's record, so nothing is refiled with the state. The company keeps its name, its formation date and its registration, and the change happens at the federal level.
What is Form 2553?
It is the IRS form that makes the election. It identifies the company, the owners and the tax year the election is meant to start in, and it has a filing deadline attached to that year. The form is federal, so it looks the same wherever the company is registered. What differs is whether making the election is a good idea where you are, which is the state-level question.
Do I have to pay myself a salary?
Salary requirements are part of the status for owners who work in the business. That is the practical consequence people underestimate: the election is one filing, but running payroll is a monthly rhythm that carries on for as long as the status does. Anyone weighing the election should be weighing that obligation with it, because the two are not separable.
Does my state follow the federal election?
How a state treats the result of a federal election is a state question, and it is the reason every page in this section has a section on when the election makes sense there. The federal filing does not change. What sits on top of it does. Read your state page before you decide, because the answer that applies to a neighboring state may not be yours.
When does the election stop making sense?
It turns on what the business earns, what the owners take out, and what the payroll obligation takes in time and administration. Below a certain level of profit the arithmetic does not work; above it, it usually does. Where that line sits depends on the business and on the state, which is why each state page treats it as a calculation rather than a rule.
Keep going, in order.
Secretary of State directory
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Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
Every filing a business does, organised by jurisdiction.
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