Advertisement
Topics

Current developments in S corporations

This annual update on S corporations covers cases, regulations, and IRS rulings that have been issued in the last year, including the rules for eligible terminated S corporations.

Nonresident alien as an indirect S corp. shareholder

The TCJA fundamentally relaxed the rules on S corporation ownership by allowing nonresident aliens to be potential current beneficiaries of ESBTs and, therefore, indirect corporation shareholders.

Current developments in S corporations

This update on recent developments in taxation relating to S corporations includes cases and rulings on eligible shareholders, electing small business trusts, inadvertent S election terminations, and other issues, as well as changes made by the TCJA.

QSub Election Does Not Increase Shareholder Stock Basis

The Tax Court held that shareholders of an S corporation improperly increased the adjusted basis of their S corporation stock when the S corporation made a QSub election for its wholly owned C corporation subsidiary.

QSub Status Is Not Property of Bankruptcy Estate

An S corporation’s revocation of its S corporation status, which caused its QSub subsidiary to lose its status as a QSub, was not a post-bankruptcy-petition transfer of property of the QSub’s bankruptcy estate.

Current Developments in S Corporations

During the period of this S corporation tax update, some major changes that directly affect S corporations took place. This article also presents tax planning ideas for S corporations and their shareholders.

Operating a QSub

A qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) is a subsidiary corporation 100% owned by an S corporation that has made a valid QSub election for the subsidiary.

QSSTs and ESBTs: No Longer Mutually Exclusive

Under Letter Ruling 201122003, if a current ESBT allows for separate and independent trust shares under the trust document, a trust may be treated as both an ESBT and a QSST. This ruling opens the door for additional planning for gifts of S corporation stock to younger generations.

QSubs Included in Definition of S Corp. for Purposes of Sec. 291(a)(3)

In Vainisi, the Seventh Circuit reversed a decision in which the Tax Court held that the 20% interest expense reduction imposed by Sec. 291(a)(3) would apply to a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) bank even for its tax years following the third year after it converted from C corporation to S corporation status.