To file taxes for an LLC in its first year, use the form that matches its IRS classification: a single-member LLC files Schedule C with your personal 1040, a multi-member LLC files Form 1065, and an LLC that elected S-Corp status files Form 1120-S. Which one is yours depends on how many owners the LLC has and whether you made any elections with the IRS. Below is how to file taxes for an LLC step by step, with the 2026 deadlines, self-employment tax, deductions, and the mistakes that cost first-year owners money. This post is part of our small business tax planning guide for LLC, S-Corp, and partnership owners.

Which tax form does my LLC use?

A single-member LLC files Schedule C on Form 1040. A multi-member LLC files Form 1065. If you elected S-Corp status, you file Form 1120-S. Which one applies turns on your ownership structure and any elections you filed — one owner means the IRS treats your LLC as a "disregarded entity," and two or more owners means it's a partnership by default.

• Single-member LLC (no election): Disregarded entity. You report business income and expenses on Schedule C, attached to your personal Form 1040. The LLC itself files nothing separately.
• Multi-member LLC (no election): Partnership. The LLC files Form 1065 (an informational return), and each owner receives a Schedule K-1 showing their share of income, deductions, and credits — which they report on their personal returns.
• LLC elected S-Corp status (Form 2553): The LLC files Form 1120-S, issues W-2 wages to owner-employees, and distributes remaining profit via K-1. This can reduce self-employment tax but adds payroll compliance.
• LLC elected C-Corp status (Form 8832): The LLC files Form 1120 and pays corporate tax. Rare for small businesses, and it creates double taxation — the corporation pays tax on profits, then you pay tax again on dividends. I almost never recommend this for a small LLC.

If you're a solo owner who hasn't filed anything with the IRS beyond your Articles of Organization, you're a disregarded entity on Schedule C. That's where most first-year LLC owners start.

A master electrician on Mike Holt's contractor forum described the first look at LLC taxes this way:

"I've delved into how taxes and bookkeeping are done for a single member LLC and it's quite overwhelming to be honest."

Most of that overwhelm is not knowing which of the four paths applies. The IRS doesn't tax the LLC itself by default. It looks through the entity to the owner or owners, so the form you file follows your LLC's tax classification — something you either chose or accepted by default under the Check-the-Box regulations at Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-3. If you never filed Form 8832 or Form 2553, the default is what drives everything below. The tool below sorts out the default and S-Corp paths in two questions.

When is my first LLC tax return due?

For the 2026 tax year, a single-member LLC with no elections files with your personal return by April 15, 2027. A multi-member LLC or an LLC that elected S-Corp status files by March 15, 2027. Get the books closed and your classification confirmed well before whichever date is yours.

What are the steps to file LLC taxes in your first year?

1. Confirm your classification with the tool above: Schedule C, Form 1065, or Form 1120-S.
2. Close the books from the business bank account, and collect any Form 1099-NEC or 1099-K the business received.
3. Prepare the return that matches your classification, with a Schedule K-1 for each owner if the LLC is a partnership or S-Corp.
4. File by the deadline: April 15, 2027, for Schedule C, or March 15, 2027, for Form 1065 and Form 1120-S. If you need more time, extend with Form 4868 (Schedule C) or Form 7004 (1065 and 1120-S).
5. Handle your state separately. California, for example, charges an $800 annual tax to every LLC doing business or organized there, income or not.

How does a single-member LLC file taxes?

You file Schedule C as part of your personal Form 1040. The business income and expenses go on Schedule C, the net profit flows to Schedule SE for self-employment tax, and both roll into your 1040. Your filing deadline is April 15, 2027 for the 2026 tax year — the same as any individual return.

The mechanics: you report all business income (cash basis is most common for first-year LLCs) and all deductible business expenses under IRC § 162 — things like advertising, software subscriptions, office supplies, contractor payments, and business insurance. The net profit on Schedule C is what gets taxed. That profit also carries self-employment tax, worked out in the self-employment tax section below.

You also get to deduct half of your self-employment tax on your Form 1040 as an above-the-line adjustment. And if your LLC qualifies, you may be eligible for the Section 199A QBI deduction — up to 20% of your qualified business income. For 2026 the deduction is unrestricted until taxable income passes $201,750 for single filers ($403,500 joint); above those thresholds, limits tied to the W-2 wages your business pays — and, for specified service businesses, a full phase-out — start applying. The OBBBA established a minimum QBI deduction of $400 when you have at least $1,000 of active QBI and the rate stays at 20%, so smaller profits still get a deduction.

How does a multi-member LLC file taxes?

A multi-member LLC files Form 1065 by March 15, 2027 for the 2026 tax year. The partnership return is informational — the LLC itself doesn't pay income tax. Instead, each owner gets a Schedule K-1 reporting their share of the LLC's income, deductions, and credits, which they carry to their personal returns.

This is a separate filing from your personal return, and the March 15 deadline is one month earlier than the individual deadline. Missing it triggers a penalty under IRC § 6698: for returns due in 2027 — which is exactly when your first-year 2026 partnership return lands — it's $260 per partner, per month, up to 12 months (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Run the arithmetic on a two-member LLC that files six months late: $260 × 2 partners × 6 months is $3,120, before a dollar of tax is due. Each added owner and each added month raises it. If you need more time, file Form 7004 for an automatic six-month extension — but that extends the filing deadline, not the payment deadline for any taxes owed at the owner level.

If you've already missed it, the IRS's first-time abatement program explicitly covers the § 6698 partnership penalty (and the matching § 6699 S-Corp penalty). If your filing history for the prior three years is clean — and for a first-year LLC it almost always is — you request the abatement and the penalty comes off. File the late return first, then ask for first-time abatement rather than paying the penalty as billed.

If you added a partner mid-year — say you started as a solo owner in January and brought someone on in October — your LLC shifted from a disregarded entity to a partnership. You'd file a final Schedule C for the period you were solo, then a partnership return for the period after the second owner joined. For a deeper look at how a two-plus-member LLC is taxed, see our guide on multi-member LLC taxes.

How much self-employment tax will I owe?

For 2026, the self-employment tax rate is 15.3% on net earnings up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500 — that's 12.4% for Social Security plus 2.9% for Medicare. Above $184,500, only the 2.9% Medicare portion applies, with no cap. You calculate this on Schedule SE, which you attach to your Form 1040.

On $80,000 of net profit: SE tax applies to 92.35% of net earnings, the statutory base under IRC § 1402: $80,000 × 92.35% = $73,880, and $73,880 × 15.3% = $11,304 of SE tax. You then deduct half of that, $5,652, as an adjustment to income on your 1040. The remaining net profit is also subject to ordinary income tax at your marginal bracket rate, offset by the 2026 standard deduction of $16,100 (single).

If you're at the stage where you're weighing whether professional help is worth the cost, we've broken down when to hire an accountant vs. a bookkeeper — including when you don't need either yet.

What if I want my LLC taxed as an S-Corp?

You file Form 2553 with the IRS to elect S-Corp treatment, and once approved, your LLC files Form 1120-S by March 15, 2027 for the 2026 tax year. The S-Corp election doesn't change your LLC's legal structure — it only changes how the IRS taxes it. You're still an LLC under state law, but for tax purposes, you're treated as an S-Corporation.

The main reason owners do this is self-employment tax savings. As a disregarded entity, all your net profit is subject to the 15.3% SE tax. As an S-Corp, you split your income into W-2 wages and K-1 distributions — and only the wages are subject to payroll tax (Social Security and Medicare). The distributions are not subject to SE tax. In our experience representing contractors in audits, a salary of roughly one-third of net profit is the level that consistently holds up — the compensation still has to be reasonable for your actual role and industry, and we set it client by client.

S-Corp status adds payroll compliance. You need to run actual payroll, file quarterly payroll returns (Forms 941, 940), and issue yourself a W-2. That's real cost and real admin work. For a first-year LLC with modest profit, the SE tax savings may not justify the added compliance. A rough break-even point is around $50,000–$60,000 in net profit — we walk through the full trigger math in when to become an S-Corp. Also note the timing: Form 2553 is generally due within 2 months and 15 days of the beginning of the tax year you want it effective. For a calendar-year 2026 LLC, that means roughly mid-March 2026. Late election relief is available under Rev. Proc. 2013-30, but it's better to file on time.

Do I need to pay quarterly estimated taxes?

Yes, if you expect to owe $1,000 or more in tax for 2026. Because LLC income passes through to your personal return, no one is withholding tax on your behalf throughout the year. The IRS requires you to make quarterly estimated payments using Form 1040-ES to cover both income tax and self-employment tax.

The 2026 quarterly due dates are:

• Q1: April 15, 2026
• Q2: June 15, 2026
• Q3: September 15, 2026
• Q4: January 15, 2027

If you underpay, the IRS charges interest on the shortfall — not a penalty per se, but it accrues. The safe harbor that most first-year owners use: pay at least 90% of your current-year tax liability through quarterly payments, or 100% of your prior-year tax liability (110% if your prior-year AGI was over $150,000). Since this is your first year, there's no prior-year baseline, so the 90% safe harbor is your main protection. Underpayment interest for 2026 runs at the federal short-term rate plus 3 percentage points. We cover the mechanics of paying quarterly taxes — including what to do when income is lumpy — in a separate guide.

What deductions can I take in my first year?

Your LLC can deduct ordinary and necessary business expenses under IRC § 162 — anything that's common and appropriate for your trade or business. For a first-year LLC, the deductions that come up most often include:

• Startup and organizational costs: Up to $5,000 each for startup costs and organizational costs in the year the business begins, reduced once costs pass $50,000, with the rest amortized. Timing is covered in the no-income section below.
• Home office deduction: If you use a space exclusively and regularly for business, you can deduct a portion of rent, utilities, insurance, and depreciation. The exclusive-use rule is strict — a guest room that doubles as your office doesn't qualify. Calculate it either by square footage (simplified method: $5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet) or actual expenses.
• Equipment and furniture: Under the OBBBA's permanent 100% bonus depreciation for property placed in service after January 19, 2025, you can fully expense qualifying equipment in year one. Alternatively, Section 179 expensing lets you deduct up to $2,560,000 in 2026, with the deduction phasing out once total equipment purchases exceed $4,090,000.
• Vehicle expenses: Actual costs (depreciation, gas, insurance, maintenance) or the standard mileage rate — track which method you start with, because you generally can't switch from standard mileage to actual later.
• Retirement contributions: If you set up a SEP IRA, you can contribute up to $72,000 for 2026 (or 25% of compensation, whichever is less). A SIMPLE IRA allows $17,000 in elective deferrals for 2026. Both reduce taxable income.
• Health insurance deduction: If you're self-employed and not eligible for a spouse's employer plan, you can deduct 100% of health insurance premiums for yourself, your spouse, and dependents as an adjustment to income — above the line, not as an itemized deduction.

What records do I need to keep for my first LLC tax filing?

Keep every receipt, invoice, bank statement, and mileage log. The general statute of limitations is three years under IRC § 6501(a), but it extends to six years if you omit more than 25% of gross income, and there's no limit if fraud is involved. Keep records for at least the period that applies to your return.

At minimum, you need a separate business bank account — commingling personal and business funds makes every other part of the return harder to support. If your books are behind, reconcile your accounts so every transaction has a home before you hand anything to a preparer.

What are the most common first-year LLC filing mistakes?

The mistakes I see most often in a first year:

• Missing the March 15 deadline: Form 1065 and Form 1120-S are due a month before personal returns, and the § 6698 meter starts the day after.
• Treating "no income" as "no return": a $0-revenue year with deductible expenses is still a loss year that gets reported (see the next section).
• Commingling personal and business funds: one account for everything makes business expenses hard to substantiate, and the IRS can treat them as personal.
• Skipping quarterly estimates: with no prior-year return, the 90% current-year safe harbor is the only one you have.
• Adding a partner without changing the filing: a solo LLC that takes on a partner mid-year files two ways that year, not one.
• Claiming a home office without exclusive use: a space that doubles as a guest room doesn't qualify.

Do I file LLC taxes if my LLC had no income in its first year?

Usually yes. If the business opened and paid any expense it would deduct, the year gets reported. Only an LLC that did nothing at all skips it. A single-member LLC has no separate federal return to file, so the question is whether your own Schedule C needs to show the business. A multi-member LLC is not required to file Form 1065 for a year with no income, deductions, or credits under Treas. Reg. § 1.6031(a)-1, but one expense the LLC would deduct, like a registered-agent fee or software paid from the business account, makes the return due. A year with expenses and no revenue is a loss year, and a loss year is a filing year.

Two owners on the TurboTax community boards show how this gets misread in the other direction. They formed a two-member LLC in November 2023, never did business, and had no income and no expenses. When they went to close it, they were told they needed to file late tax returns first, at a quoted cost of about $500. Under the regulation above, a partnership with no income, deductions, or credits was not required to file, so there was no late return to fix and no penalty running. For an LLC like theirs, pull the bank statements to confirm zero transactions, then handle the state dissolution.

Startup costs don't change that math the way many owners expect. Under IRC § 195, start-up costs such as market research, advertising before opening, and training are deductible "for the taxable year in which the active trade or business begins": up to $5,000, reduced dollar for dollar once total start-up costs pass $50,000, with the rest spread over 180 months (15 years). Organizational costs of forming the entity follow the same $5,000 / $50,000 / 180-month structure for a partnership under IRC § 709 (and under § 248 for an LLC taxed as a corporation), also starting in the year the business begins. So an LLC that was open and looking for customers but earned $0 has deductions and files. An LLC that was formed and never opened hasn't started that clock yet, and filing a zero return doesn't bank a deduction for later.

The full dormant-year test, including what to do with an LLC you formed and never used, is in filing LLC taxes with no income.

What else do first-year LLC owners ask?

If you want help with the classification, the S-Corp question, or the return itself, book a meeting with N&T Tax & Advisory Group and we will go through which form, which deadline, and which deductions apply to you — by phone or video, wherever your LLC is registered.