What is an S-Corporartion?

S-Corporations are corporations that elect to be treated as pass-through entities by the IRS. In order to qualify for S-Corporation status a corporation needs to satisfy several conditions, including the following: 1) all shareholders must be residents of the United States; 2) the corporation may only have one class of shareholders and may not have more than 75 shareholders; and 3) the company’s shareholders must be any of the following: individuals, estates, certain trusts, certain partnerships, tax-exempt charitable organizations, and other S corporations (but only if the other S corporation is the sole shareholder). This means S-Corporations may not be owned by other C-Corporations, LLCs, or foreign residents. If any of the requirements are not met at any time, the corporation automatically loses its S-Corporation status and will be treated as a a C-Corporation.