
If you spend a substantial amount of time around tax professionals, there’s a decent chance you will encounter the phrase “disregarded entity” at one point or another. This phrase, fear-inspiring though it sounds, is a fairly straightforward concept which has relevance in a variety of contexts. In this article, we will introduce disregarded entities and explain why you and other HTW readers should be familiar with this concept.
Tax Reporting
Not all business entities are the same. As we have discussed in our webcast on the topic, businesspeople can select between a number of distinct corporate entities depending on which entity best suits their particular situation. Once an entity has been selected, one of the remaining steps is for the owner to determine whether that entity will be “disregarded” for tax reporting purposes. In simple terms, if an entity be disregarded, then it will not file its own separate tax return to the IRS; it is disregarded to whomever is the current owner, and so the current owner will include the financial data of the entity within his or her own return. Disregarded entities, therefore, can be thought of as assets which are fully traceable to the owner, rather than wholly distinct entities.
Only certain corporate entities may be disregarded. For instance, a single member LLC is typically disregarded to the single member unless the single owner specifically elects to treat the LLC as regarded. And so income generated by such an LLC would be included on the owner’s tax return rather than a tax return prepared and owned by the entity itself.
Certain corporate entities can never be disregarded. S Corps, C Corps, and multi-member LLCs in which the two members are not husband and wife in a community property state cannot ever be disregarded and must report income independently.
1031 Exchange Context
Another context in which disregarded entities may show up as an important concept is the 1031 exchange industry. The tax code requires that whichever entity owns the relinquished property in a 1031 exchange must also acquire title to the replacement property. As I’m sure our readers are aware, title to real estate can be held by corporate entities, and so if a regarded corporate entity hold title to real property then this preexisting ownership must kept consistent throughout the exchange. If the entity doesn’t remain consistent then a valid tax-deferred exchange cannot occur.
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