[animalwithin]

How come the loan the corporation obtains is not factored into the individual owners’ basis?

Mark and Mary formed MM, Inc. as an S corporation. Each contributed $50,000 in exchange for five shares of corporate stock. In addition, MM obtained a $60,000 loan from a local bank that was still outstanding at the end of the year. In MM’s first year of operation, it reported a loss of $20,000 and did not make any distributions to the shareholders. What is Mark’s basis in his MM shares at the beginning of the second year?

The answer is $40,000 which is his original contribution of $50k, reduced by his share of the loss at $10k. I get that but I thought that loans are allocated to each person comprise their basis, no? Is that partnerships I’m thinking of?

[Kameron]

Loans only increase the basis for partnerships. S-Corps have 2 different kinds of basis. Stock basis and Shareholder Loan Basis. Therefore the only basis that would be considered for a loan, is the amount that the shareholder personally lends the company. In this case, this would increase the loan basis. All other loans do not increase the basis.

[animalwithin]

Thank you!

[Author]

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