Business Traders Maximize Tax Benefits With An S-Corp

S-Corp elections are due by March 15, 2015 for existing entities.

Forming an entity taxed as an S-Corp can save active business traders significant taxes. With an S-Corp, business traders solidify trader tax status, maximize employee-benefit deductions (such as health insurance and retirement plan deductions) and gain flexibility with a Section 475 election.

Tax returns are simple
An S-Corp tax return consolidates your trading activity on a pass-through tax return making life easier for you, your accountant and the IRS. Pass-through means there’s no federal tax on the entity level, which avoids double taxation in C-Corps. (Read our recent blog on corporations.) The S-Corp Form 1120-S reports trading gains, losses and expenses, including officer compensation and profit-sharing plan contributions.

Better than a sole proprietorship
The first tax benefit is business expense treatment (Section 162) rather than restricted investment expense treatment (Section 212). If the S-Corp qualifies for trader tax status, it has business expense treatment; otherwise it’s an investment company with investor tax status. The S-Corp tax return looks better than a sole proprietorship trading business Schedule C. The S-Corp shows all activity, whereas a Schedule C only shows business expenses — with trading gains reported on other tax forms — and that looks like a losing business to the IRS. Business expense treatment saves traders more than $5,000 per year in taxes vs. investment expense treatment.

Sole proprietor business traders cannot have employee-benefit deductions in connection with trading gains. Plus, a sole proprietor cannot pay himself a salary or fee to generate self-employment income (SEI) or earned income, which is required for AGI deductions including health insurance and retirement plans. Those employee-benefit plans can save business traders between $3,000 to $17,000 or more per year if properly arranged with an S-Corp structure.

Better than a partnership tax return
Traders need an entity to financially engineer earned income for health and retirement plan deductions. The S-Corp is better than a partnership tax return for this.

Partnership tax returns are inefficient for employee-benefit plan deductions. Partnership tax returns pass through expenses and net losses for income tax and self-employment income tax — the latter being a problem. The partnership pays a guaranteed payment or administration fee to the owner/trader to create SEI. But after the partnership passes through SEI losses, the net result is a low amount of SEI, which constricts a retirement plan contribution.

It works differently with an S-Corp. The S-Corp pays the owner/trader compensation reported on a W-2. The S-Corp passes through expenses and losses for income tax purposes, but not for SEI tax purposes. Employee-benefit plan deductions are entirely based on the amount of W-2 wages and there’s no reduction of earned income from S-Corp expenses and losses. That key difference unlocks the ability to maximize retirement plan contributions.

Tax planning
The owner/officer can have a base salary for covering the health insurance premium deduction, which is allowed even if the S-Corp has trading losses. If the S-Corp has sufficient trading profits by Q4, establish a retirement plan before year-end. Start with the 100% deductible employer 401(k) elective deferral ($17,500 for 2014 and $18,000 for 2015) and pay it before year-end through payroll since it’s reported on the annual W-2.

If you have large trading gains, increase payroll in December for a performance-based bonus to unlock a 25% employer 401(k) profit-sharing retirement plan contribution. You don’t have to contribute into the plan until the due date of the tax return (including extensions). The maximum defined-contribution profit-sharing plan amount is $52,000 plus $5,500 catch-up for 2014, and $53,000 plus $6,000 catch-up for 2015. (For details about retirement plan choices, limits and savings, see Green’s 2015 Trader Tax Guide Chapter 8.)

S-Corp elections
Existing LLCs, C-Corps and general partnerships may elect S-Corp treatment in every state except general partnerships in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Tennessee. File a S-Corp election on IRS Form 2553 by March 15, 2015. The effective date of the election is January 1, 2015. Most states accept the federal election; if not, file an election in your home state, too. If you miss the S-Corp election deadline, there is IRS and in some cases also state relief for late filings. You’ll need a perjury statement stating you intended to file the election on time. Existing corporations cause taxation on converting accumulated retained earnings.

A new entity may elect S-Corp treatment within 75 days of inception.

Other rules
If you use an S-Corp, read Green’s 2015 Trader Tax Guide Chapter 7 on important issues including officer’s reasonable compensation, stock and debt basis, accounting allocations and more. Underlying income from a trading business is not earned income, so IRS reasonable compensation rules do not apply.

Bottom line
If you’re interested in making an S-Corp election, contact your tax advisor well before the March 15 deadline. There’s still plenty of time to set up a new S-Corp after March 15 to generate employee benefit plan deductions before year-end.