A C-Corporation (C-Corp), under United States federal income tax law, refers to any corporation that is taxed separately from its owners. A C corporation is distinguished from an S corporation, which generally is not taxed separately. Most major companies (and many smaller companies) are treated as C corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
C corporation vs. S corporation
Generally, all for-profit corporations are automatically classified as a C corporation unless the corporation elects the option to treat the corporation as a flow-through entity known as an S corporation. An S corporation is not itself subject to income tax; rather, shareholders of the S corporation are subject to tax on their pro rata shares of income based on their shareholdings.[1] To qualify to make the S corporation election, the corporation’s shares must be held by resident or citizen individuals or certain qualifying trusts. A corporation may qualify as a C corporation without regard to any limit on the number of shareholders, foreign or domestic.
Please note:
This information is not intended to provide a recommendation on how to structure an interest in U.S. real property. The final decision must be based on what works best given the specific facts. Any decision must also take into consideration what is important to the investor(s), taking into account their different objectives, risk tolerances and sensitivities with respect to the various issues involving U.S. income tax, estate tax, confidentiality and domicile taxation. Additional treaty benefits may apply depending upon the domicile of the client. No purchase or investment structure should be implemented based solely on information provided in this article and, in addition, home country tax advice should also be obtained before selection of ownership structure.
