The simplest way to reduce your taxable income from an S corporation is to take some of the gross receipts directly into your personal account without running them through the corporate books. Don’t mention this to your tax preparer and make sure they don’t find out. If you get caught by the IRS, though, hire an expert to explain why it is your preparer’s fault. This plan did not work all that well for a couple, both physicians, who were running two medical family medical clinics through an S Corporation called MedExpress. They ended up being liable for the fraud penalty which has the collateral effect of extending the statute of limitations indefinitely. At 75% the fraud penalty is as bad as it can get without losing your liberty.
Help Your Clients Implement a Fortune 500 CFO Strategy
Randy Sadler, CIC Services
For decades, some of America’s largest corporations have used a financial strategy that gives their CFOs greater control over insurance costs, helps them finance risks the commercial market handles poorly and creates an opportunity to retain underwriting profit when losses come in below expectations. Approximately 90% of Fortune 500 companies have captive insurance subsidiaries.¹ Historically, the economics favored organizations with substantial capital, large insurance programs and the resources to support their own insurance operations. Small and midsize businesses rarely had the scale to justify the cost and complexity. That equation has changed. A mature network of specialized insurance professionals and structures now allows qualifying privately held businesses to pursue many of the same risk-financing advantages. Federal tax law can further improve the economics for certain smaller insurance companies. For CPAs and tax professionals, this creates an advisory opportunity. The challenge is recognizing which clients could benefit and what conditions must exist before recommending it.
