Error Message: Effective date of S corp election is later than beginning date of tax year

[hagermania]

I am having to late file my 2018 S Corp return but I get the error message "You have entered an S corp effective date that is later than the first of the year".  It was my first year and the business did not start until 10/5/2018.  Turbotax will not let me efile with this error and my state requires efile.  The help instructions mention a 'short year' return but turbotax only appears to allow calendar or fiscal year.  Please advise...thanks!

[tagteam · Accepted solution]

You need to select that your corporation did not use a calendar year (first) in the Business Info>>About Your Business section of the program.

The next screen should give you the choice between a fiscal year and a short year.

[hagermania]

Thanks.  I was finally able to do it from the Form method but not the interview method in 2018.

[kocajj1]

I am running into the same issue, but I am doing it for 2020 taxes.  I keep getting the same error, but I dont have the option to select "short year" and it says that is what Turbotax is using.

[kocajj1]

This is the error it produces.  It tells me I cannot use this date, because it is after the start of the year.  When I change it to 1/1/2020, it says I cannot use that date because that is before I incorporated.  I cannot file my K-1 without passing this obstacle.

[kocajj1]

Never mind.  I see how the original poster fixed it and I managed to do it also in the Forms tab.  A future enhancement may be to have Turbotax automatically fill in the forms like how it says it will.