LLC or S Corporation: What’s Better for Your Business?

Sometime prior to 2012, it came to the attention of the public and Congress that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former U.S. Senator John Edwards each avoided tens of thousands of dollars of self-employment taxes on income they earned through their respective individually owned S corporations. This was considered a loophole because the residual profits clearly represented earnings from their personal efforts.

In recent years, the IRS has become privy to this tax avoidance strategy and can impose hefty penalties. Get advice from an accountant before deciding on a tax classification for your business or determining what a “reasonable” salary should be. May cause additional costs related to having employees and running payroll.

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The company will continue to be taxed as an S Corp for the remainder of the tax year, and revocation will occur the following year. Matt holds a Bachelor’s Degree in business from Drexel University with a concentration in business law. He performs extensive research and analysis to convert state laws into simple instructions anyone can follow to form their LLC – all Electing S Corporation Status For A Limited Liability Company for free! You can find the download links and the instructions to the above forms in How to revoke an S-Corp election. Calculating your S-Corporation’s tax obligations and correctly filing all IRS forms can be complicated, and if done improperly, can lead to IRS penalties, fines, and interest. If your LLC’s S-Corp election is denied you will receive a CP264 Notice.

There are also tax benefits for pass-through entities that apply to S corp owners. Both an S corporation and an LLC offer limited liability protection. This means the owners’ personal assets are protected from business debts and legal judgments. An LLC is easier to manage and administer than an S corporation and offers more flexibility in distributing profits and losses to the owners.

How to Change Your LLC Tax Status to a Corporation or S Corporation

Unlike wages, S corp profits are not subject to self-employment taxes. Specifically, S corporations offer the limited liability protection of the corporate structure—meaning that an owner’s personal assets can’t be accessed by business creditors or legal claims against the company. But like partnerships, they don’t pay corporate taxes on any earnings and income that they generate. They can also help owners avoid self-employment tax, if their compensation is structured as a salary or a stock dividend. When the corporate entity requests an S Corporation election, it will be taxed as a pass-through entity under subchapter S of the Internal Revenue Code. This means that an S Corporation is not a separately taxable entity and the profits and losses are passed-through and reported on the personal income tax returns of the shareholders, much like a Partnership.

• Whereas LLCs and corporations are formed when they file legal paperwork with their respective state, an S Corp is designated when an already existing limited liability company or corporation files Form with the IRS.
• There are, however, some advantages of S corporation tax treatment.
• For example, it makes sense to suggest electing S Corp status to your clients when their self-employment tax burden exceeds the tax burden if the corporation converted to an S Corp.
• Here’s what you need to know about these business types and their differences before you decide which is right for your business.
• The primary benefit of choosing election for S corp taxation under an LLC is the flexibility and limited liability of tax options.
• Other jurisdictions, such as the District of Columbia, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New York City, Tennessee, and Texas, don’t recognize the federal S Corp election and tax S Corps as a corporation.

The Internal Revenue Service closely monitors S Corps owners to ensure they take “reasonable salaries” to all employees. If the IRS believes salaries are below the typical wage for those positions because the business is trying to avoid paying payroll taxes, the company will lose its S Corp status. Although the IRS deems that “reasonableness is determined based on all the facts and circumstances,” a good rule of thumb is that any shareholder who does more than contribute money to the company should be considered an employee. If the company is flagged, the IRS will study the S Corp’s source of income and who performed which tasks to generate the gross receipts. S corporation application can be a favorable option for many businesses. However, when it comes to operating an LLC that uses S corp taxation structures, you have the options to take advantage of both S corp and LLC benefits.

Why Would You Choose an S Corporation (S Corp)?

Most LLCs will hit this point when their net income reaches $40,000. The owner of a single-member LLC can also elect to have the LLC taxed as either an S corporation or a C corporation. S Corporation S Corps are corporations that have elected a special tax status with the IRS. From a tax perspective, your enterprise will be treated as an S corporation. You’ll still have the pass-through of income, avoiding double taxation — same as if your LLC was treated as a proprietorship or partnership. Some states such as New York and New Jersey require a separate state-level S election in order for the corporation to be treated, for state tax purposes, as an S corporation.

I’ll join the others in thanking you for taking the time to set up these very informative posts. Matt Horwitz has been the leading expert on LLC education for the past decade. He founded LLC University in 2010 after realizing people needed simple and actionable instructions to start an LLC that other https://kelleysbookkeeping.com/ companies weren’t offering. He’s cited by Entrepreneur Magazine, Yahoo Finance, and the US Chamber of Commerce, and was featured by CNBC and InventRight. If your LLC’s S-Corp election is approved you will receive a CP261 Notice. For most filers, there is nothing else you need to do with the form.

An existing LLC applies for the s-corp tax status, but in the mean time , has its shareholder employee enrolled in pre-tax health insurance plans. Once, the s-corp tax classification is approved, the shareholders ER paid premiums must be added to income (no longer pre-tax eligible). You can make this election at the same time you file your taxes by filing Form 1120S, attaching Form 2533 and submitting along with your personal tax return. This must be done no more than six months from the date on which the tax return is due; be sure to mark the first date of the tax year as that of the year reflected in Form 1120S on line E of 2553. As mentioned, by default the LLC’s income passes straight through to the owner’s tax return. However, there are multiple tax choices that you can elect when setting up an LLC that could make it more beneficial for your situation.

On the other hand, LLCs that elect partnerships tax status can disproportionately allocate tax attributes and distributions. Accordingly, if members want to allocate profits, losses, tax credits, or other tax attributes disproportionately, the members must elect partnership status for the LLC. A common misconception is that only entities that organize as corporations can elect S corporation tax status. In fact, both corporations and LLCs can elect S corporation status.