S corporations

An S corporation, for United States federal income tax purposes, is a closely held corporation (or, in some cases, a limited liability company or a partnership) that makes a valid election to be taxed under Subchapter S of Chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code. In general, S corporations do not pay any federal income taxes. Instead, the corporation's income or losses are divided among and passed through to its shareholders. The shareholders must then report the income or loss on their own individual income tax returns.

S corporations are ordinary business corporations (or, in some cases, limited liability companies or even partnerships) that elect to pass corporate income, losses, deductions, and credit through to their shareholders for federal tax purposes. The S corporation rules are contained in Subchapter S of Chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code (sections 1361 through 1379). Congress, acting on the Department of Treasury's suggestion of 1946, created this chapter in 1958 as part of a larger package of miscellaneous tax items. S status combines the legal environment of C corporations with U.S. federal income taxation similar to that of partnerships.

Like a C corporation, an S corporation is generally a corporation under the law of the state in which the entity is organized. However, with modern incorporation statutes making the establishment of a corporation relatively easy, firms that might traditionally have been run as partnerships or sole proprietorships are often run as corporations with a small number of shareholders in order to take advantage of the beneficial features of the corporate form; this is particularly true of firms established prior to the advent of the modern limited liability company. Therefore, taxation of S corporations resembles that of partnerships. As with partnerships, the income, deductions, and tax credits of an S corporation flow through to shareholders annually, regardless of whether distributions are made. Thus, income is taxed at the shareholder level and not at the corporate level. Payments to S shareholders by the corporation are distributed tax-free to the extent that the distributed earnings were previously taxed.

Unlike a C corporation, an S corporation is not eligible for a dividends received deduction.

Unlike a C corporation, an S corporation is not subject to the 10 percent of taxable income limitation applicable to charitable contribution deductions.

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