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Form 1120-S: U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation is a tax document that is used to report income, gains, losses, credits, deductions, and other information pertaining to businesses that are registered as S corporations to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Put simply, Form 1120-S is considered the tax return of an S corporation. The form must be filed by the 15th day of the 3rd month after the corporation's tax year.
A corporation must file Form 1120-S if it elected to be an S corporation by filing Form 2553: Election by a Small Business Corporation, and the IRS accepted the election.
An S corporation is a business entity permitted under the U.S. tax code. It is meant for smaller companies with fewer than 100 shareholders. S corporations are considered pass-through entities as they don't pay corporate taxes. Instead, they pass the tax liabilities to their individual shareholders.
The IRS uses the ownership percentage detailed in Form 1120-S to allocate how much profit and loss is assigned to an individual shareholder.
A shareholder's profit and loss are relatively easy to calculate if they don't see a change in the percentage of the shares they hold during the year. But if the shareholder purchases, sells, or transfers any (additional) shares or holdings during the course of the year, then their profit and loss must be prorated on a per-share basis.
The business structure of an S corporation allows it to pass corporate income, losses, deductions, and credits through to shareholders for federal tax purposes. It avoids double taxation as individual shareholders are taxed rather than the corporation.
As noted above, S corporations use Form 1120-S to report the income, gains, losses, credits, and deductions, along with other information to the IRS each year.
The form includes pertinent business details, including:
The remainder of the form includes other key information, which is noted in the table below.
All pages of Form 1120-S can be downloaded from the IRS website.
Form 1120-S is the tax return for S corporations. As such, it is used by S corporations to report their income, profits, losses, tax credits, deductions, and other information to the IRS. The form can be filed electronically or by mail and must be accompanied by Schedule K-1. This schedule identifies individual shareholders in the S corporation along with the portion of income, profit, loss, tax credits, and deductions that are allocated to each of them.
Form 1120-S is filed by S corporations. The form must be filed only after the IRS accepts the election of an S corporation filed by a business with fewer than 100 shareholders. The form may be prepared by a member of the corporation or a tax professional and must be filed electronically or by mail.
Form 1120-S is the annual tax return for S corporations. It must be filed with the IRS by the 15th of the third month following the end of the corporation's tax year. So if a company's tax year runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, the company's tax return is due on March 15. On the other hand, a company whose tax year runs between July 1 and June 30 must complete and file Form 1120-S by Sept. 15.
Every entity must report its tax liabilities by filing a tax return each year with the IRS. This includes individuals and businesses of all sizes. Form 1120-S is the return that is dedicated to S corporations. These businesses have fewer than 100 shareholders and pass their income and losses to each shareholder. Companies can file these forms electronically or by mail and must include Schedule K-1 with their returns. All paperwork must be submitted to the IRS by the 15th of the third month after the end of the corporation's tax year.
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Description Related TermsUnrecaptured Section 1250 gain relates to an IRS tax rule directing that depreciation be recaptured when a gain is realized on the sale of depreciable real estate.
A deferred tax liability is a line item on a balance sheet that indicates that taxes in a certain amount have not been paid but are due in the future.
Use tax is a type of sales tax applied to purchases that will be used in one’s state of residence and on which no tax was collected in the state of purchase.
A widow(er)'s exemption is one of several forms of state or federal tax relief available to a surviving spouse in the period following their spouse's death.
Learn about U.S. federal income tax brackets and find out which tax bracket you're in. Here, we explain marginal tax rates, state taxes, and federal taxes.
A filing extension is an exemption made for taxpayers who are unable to file their federal tax return by the regular due date.
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