Where to mail Form 2553: IRS address and fax number by state

Where to mail Form 2553 depends on one thing: the state where the corporation's principal business, office or agency is located. The table above is copied from the IRS page Where to file your taxes (for Form 2553), which the IRS last reviewed or updated on 28 Jun 2026. We read it, and the Instructions for Form 2553 (revised 12/2020, for the December 2017 revision of the form), on 13 Nov 2026.

Form 2553 is the election to be an S corporation. No payment goes with it, so the IRS table has one address column, and each address comes with a fax number.

Mail or fax: the two ways the IRS takes Form 2553

The instructions give the rule in two sentences: "Generally, send the original election (no photocopies) or fax it to the Internal Revenue Service Center listed below. If the corporation (entity) files this election by fax, keep the original Form 2553 with the corporation's (entity's) permanent records."

Two small things about the addresses. They have a five-digit ZIP code and no street or P.O. box, which is how the IRS prints them. And the instructions call the recipient "Internal Revenue Service Center" where the web page says "Internal Revenue Service." The city, state and ZIP code are the same in both.

The fax numbers on this page were read on irs.gov on 13 Nov 2026. The instructions warn that this filing information "is subject to change," so check the IRS page on the day you send.

What the IRS accepts as proof that you filed

The instructions say: "Care should be exercised to ensure that the IRS receives the election." If the IRS questions whether Form 2553 was filed, they list what counts as acceptable proof of filing:

• a certified or registered mail receipt (timely postmarked) from the U.S. Postal Service, or its equivalent from a designated private delivery service,
• Form 2553 with an accepted stamp,
• Form 2553 with a stamped IRS received date, or
• an IRS letter stating that Form 2553 has been accepted.

A fax transmission report is not on that list. The instructions do not say whether one counts, and we will not guess. If you fax, keep the report with the original anyway. If you mail, the first item on the list is one you can create yourself at a post office counter.

Why Certisent does not mail Form 2553

We print the pages you upload and hand them to USPS as Certified Mail. For most letters that is all a mailing needs. For this form it is not, for two reasons the IRS states itself:

• The IRS asks for the original. A page we print from your PDF is a copy.
• The form has to carry signatures. The instructions say: "If Form 2553 isn't signed, it won't be considered timely filed." We cannot sign for you, and a printed image of a scanned signature is not an ink signature.

Form 2553 is also not among the paper forms on which the IRS accepts electronic or digital signatures. That IRS list (read 13 Nov 2026) includes Form 8832, the entity classification election, but not Form 2553. The same page counts "a scanned or digitized image of a handwritten signature" as an electronic signature.

So the honest answer is: mail the signed original in your own envelope, or fax it. This page gives you the address and the number for both.

Who signs, and where it goes wrong

The instructions name the people who can sign for the corporation: "the president, vice president, treasurer, assistant treasurer, chief accounting officer, or any other corporate officer (such as tax officer) authorized to sign."

Shareholders sign too. "Each shareholder consents by signing and dating either in column K or on a separate consent statement." The instructions add special rules, including these:

• If an individual and a spouse have a community interest in the stock or in the income from it, both must consent.
• Each tenant in common, joint tenant, and tenant by the entirety must consent.
• For an election filed on or after its effective date, everyone who owned stock at any time from that date to the day the election is made must consent, including former shareholders.

A separate consent statement is attached to the form and must contain the name, address and EIN of the corporation and the information requested in columns J through N.

When Form 2553 is due

The instructions say to complete and file Form 2553:

• no more than 2 months and 15 days after the beginning of the tax year the election is to take effect, or
• at any time during the tax year preceding the tax year it is to take effect.

They work it through with three examples:

For a calendar year business that wants the election to start January 1, 2027, the second row is the one that applies: the window in the IRS example ends March 15.

Mailed on time: what the postmark rule says

Section 7502 of the Internal Revenue Code treats a document that arrives after its due date as filed on the date of the U.S. postmark, if that date is on or before the due date and the envelope was properly addressed with postage prepaid (26 U.S.C. 7502). The regulation under it, 26 CFR 301.7502-1, says two things about certified mail:

• If the sender's receipt is postmarked by the postal employee to whom the document is presented, the date of the postmark on the receipt is treated as the postmark date of the document.
• For a document, a properly issued, postmarked certified mail sender's receipt and a properly addressed envelope are prima facie evidence that the document was delivered.

That is the receipt the Form 2553 instructions mean by "timely postmarked." It is stamped by a clerk at a post office counter, so ask for the postmark on your Certified Mail receipt (PS Form 3800) when you hand over the envelope. Our guide to proof of mailing explains the receipt types. This page describes the rules and is not tax advice.

Private delivery services

The instructions allow them: "You can use certain private delivery services (PDS) designated by the IRS to file this election." A carrier needs a street address, and the IRS publishes one for each center (page dated 29 Oct 2026):

• Kansas City: Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center, 333 W. Pershing, Kansas City, MO 64108
• Ogden: Internal Revenue Submission Processing Center, 1973 Rulon White Blvd., Ogden, UT 84201

The instructions add that the private delivery service "can tell you how to get written proof of the mailing date."

After you file: 60 days, then follow up

The service center notifies the corporation whether the election is accepted and when it takes effect. The instructions give the timing:

• A determination generally comes within 60 days after Form 2553 is filed.
• If box Q1 in Part II is checked, the corporation receives a ruling letter on the tax year, and acceptance generally takes an additional 90 days.
• If you are not notified within 2 months of the date of filing (the date faxed or mailed), or within 5 months if box Q1 is checked, "take follow-up action by calling 1-800-829-4933."

The acceptance letter is Notice CP261. The IRS page Understanding your CP261 notice (page dated 21 Jul 2026) says to keep it in your permanent records, and explains why the effective date on it can differ from the one you asked for: "You did not timely file Form 2553 for the effective date requested."

One more caution from the instructions: do not file Form 1120-S for any tax year before the year the election takes effect.

A late election can travel with Form 1120-S

A late Form 2553 is not always mailed on its own. The instructions say certain late elections "can be filed attached to Form 1120-S," and that a corporation asking for late election relief writes "FILED PURSUANT TO REV. PROC. 2013-30" in the top margin of the first page of Form 2553. Whether a corporation qualifies for that relief depends on conditions the instructions list. That is a question for the instructions or a tax professional, not for a mailing page.

If your address came from an old copy

The IRS's About Form 2553 page carries this note: "Effective June 18, 2019, the filing address has changed for Form 2553 filers located in certain states." Copies of the older table are still online and still show up in search results. Use the table on the current IRS page, which is the one copied above.

How to send Form 2553 by certified mail

1. Print the completed Form 2553.
2. Have the corporate officer sign and date it in ink, and collect each shareholder's signed and dated consent, in column K or on an attached statement.
3. Make a copy of the full signed set for your records. The original is what you mail.
4. Pick your state in the box at the top of this page and copy the address onto your envelope.
5. Take the envelope to a post office counter and ask for Certified Mail. Ask the clerk to postmark your receipt.
6. Keep the postmarked receipt and the tracking number with your copy.

The USPS fees are $5.55 for Certified Mail and $2.91 for an electronic return receipt, plus postage (USPS Notice 123, price list effective 4 Oct 2026, read 13 Nov 2026). Our certified mail guide walks through the counter step by step.