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Michael A.
  • Financial Advisor
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Can one S Corp transfer expenses to another?

Michael A.
  • Financial Advisor
Posted May 8 2023, 18:13

I recently met with my accountant and he told me that an S Corp can buy unused expenses from another S Corp. 

I have a relative who has accumulated over $300,000 of expenses over the past 10 years that he has never written off or used. He has receipts for all these expenses linked to his S Corp. 

My accountant says I can buy these expenses and put them against my income. For example, if I made $120k I can take $80k of expenses against it and show a profit of $40k. I will only pay taxes on the $40k. He says I could buy $80k of expenses from my relative’s S Corp for only $1 and transfer them to my s Corp. He says this is allowed by making a note. 

For me, this sounds amazing because I can literally choose how much income I want to be taxed. My relative is willing to give me the expenses I need. 

This accountant of mine has a lot of experience and is in his 80s. He deals with a lot of S Corps and has many high net worth clients. One thing that worries me is that all the other accountants I talk to say that they don’t think it will work. They say they have never heard of someone doing this. They say I can combine corporations instead.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I trust my accountant and I would like to believe he knows what he is doing.


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Ashish Acharya
Pro Member
#2 Tax, SDIRAs & Cost Segregation Contributor
  • CPA, CFP®, PFS
  • Florida
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Ashish Acharya
Pro Member
#2 Tax, SDIRAs & Cost Segregation Contributor
  • CPA, CFP®, PFS
  • Florida
Replied May 9 2023, 08:28

This is not correct. He might be talking about NOLs from acquiring a C-Corp. 

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Michael A.
  • Financial Advisor
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Michael A.
  • Financial Advisor
Replied May 9 2023, 09:38
Quote from @Ashish Acharya:

This is not correct. He might be talking about NOLs from acquiring a C-Corp. 

 He told me by making a note, I can buy the expenses and transfer them to my S Corp. When he explains it in detail I get lost. 

All I know is that my relative has $300k of expenses he hasn’t used and has accumulated over the years. Would this be considered net operating losses? 

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Greg O'Brien
Tax & Financial Services
  • Accountant
  • Boston, MA
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Greg O'Brien
Tax & Financial Services
  • Accountant
  • Boston, MA
Replied May 19 2023, 18:40

@Michael A. You cannot by suspended losses from an S Corp. why? Because they are suspended at the personal level and not S Corp level. Ask your account for the “Reg Section” or relevant literature.