Is the certificate the election?
No. The certificate records that the state formed the company. The election is Form 2553 or Form 8832, and it counts when the IRS has accepted it. A seal on the certificate does not move the tax classification off the default. The longer version is on the certificate page, including why the formation date does not start the election clock by itself.
Does the box on the bank form decide?
It tells a payer, or a banker, what somebody typed that day. It can match the truth and it often does not. What settles the tax is the IRS acceptance, which the bank never issues. Keep the bank form for the close and for any correction the bank itself needs later. What the bank form can prove stops well short of a classification.
Where is the K-1 if we are an S corporation?
It is an output of Form 1120-S. If it is missing, look for that return and for the acceptance of Form 2553. Do not look for a K-1 in the formation sleeve. The search path is written on the K-1 page. A partnership with no Form 1065 has the same hole under a different number.
The bank was quiet. Do we still ask about a return?
Yes, ask. Quiet cash and a required return are different facts. The classification says which return. The activity says whether there is something to put on it. A still statement answers neither one completely, because activity can miss that account. A quiet year keeps those two questions apart on purpose.
Can payday setup choose the classification?
No. Wage setup waits until the accepted page is known, and the owner keeps control of the provider. If that page says S corporation, the wage has to be thought through and written down. Lining up a provider does not file Form 2553. A year with no pay reports does not cancel an election that was accepted. The pay cycle is left with the owner and the provider.
What if the acceptance is late?
Then you have a late letter, not a timely acceptance, and the two stay apart in the stack. The late letter is about a year that has already started. Until it is accepted, the default is what the packet follows. We will not staple the late letter to the certificate and call the year settled. The way we sort that pile is on the buried letter page.
Ask the question in your pile
Write the question the way you would ask it out loud, and name the year.
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.