S Corporation Income Taxation

TOPICS / PASSTHROUGHS

September 1, 2007

Tracking Tax Basis in an S Corp. ESOP

Editor: Frank J. O’Connell, Jr., CPA, Esq. Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) currently cover 10 million employees in the U.S. participating in approximately 11,000 plans, according to the ESOP Association. With the number of plans expected to increase, the need for tax accounting and recordkeeping for ESOPs is becoming more

August 1, 2007

Open Account Debt for S Shareholders

Editor: Anthony S. Bakale, CPA, M.Tax. On April 12, 2007, the Service issued proposed amendments to Regs. Sec. 1.1367-2 and -3 (REG-144859-04), to address concerns about the treatment of S shareholders’ open account debt. Background Regs. Sec. 1.1367-2(a) states that open account debt is a shareholder advance that is not

August 1, 2007

New Law Contains Small Business Tax Provisions

On May 25, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007 (SBWOA ’07) (P.L.110-28), which included several tax provisions. Return preparer penalties: The SBWOA ’07 expands the scope of return preparer penalties and alters the standards of conduct that must be met to

June 1, 2007

S Corporations and Disregarded Entities—Qualification as Shareholders

Executive Summary S corporations may be owned through a network of trusts, partnerships and LLCs when DEs are properly used. Letter Ruling 200439028 presents a variation on recent ownership schemes, with a layered structure involving DEs. The intertwining structure of complex ownership networks often leaves the S corporation’s eligibility status

April 1, 2007

S Holding Companies and F Reorgs.

In yet another in a series of F reorganization rulings, the IRS issued Letter Ruling 200701017, holding that the formation of a new corporation, followed by the contribution of S stock and an immediate qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) election, will be treated as an F reorganization (i.e., a mere

April 1, 2007

Adjusting Basis of Inherited S Stock for IRD

Editor: Albert B. Ellentuck, Esq. Income in respect of a decedent (IRD) generally consists of items of gross income a decedent was entitled to at death that, because of the decedent’s method of accounting, were not included in the final individual return; see Regs. Sec. 1.691(a)-1(b). IRD is included in