If you and your spouse are both working for the S-corporation, then the IRS will count your spouse’s work as part of your own participation in the business, making your work more likely to count as active income. This will only be a problem if you have a lot of losses from passive activities that you may not be able to deduct from your taxes.

Who is an employee in the Internal Revenue Code?

Who is an Employee? The definition of an employee for FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act), FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) and federal income tax withholding under the Internal Revenue Code include corporate officers.

Who is considered an employee under FICA and Futa?

The definition of employee for FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act), FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) and federal income tax withholding under the Internal Revenue Code include corporate officers. When corporate officers perform a service for the corporation and receive or are entitled to payments, those payments are considered wages.

Why do S corporations pay themselves instead of employees?

This allows for savings on Social Security and Medicare taxes because such taxes need not be paid on distributions of earnings and profits from the corporation to its shareholders. Thus, to the extent they pay themselves shareholder distributions instead of employee salary, S corporation shareholder/employees can save big money on payroll taxes.

Can a spouse work in a business as an employee?

If you have a spouse who wants to help out and you have enough money coming in from the business and other sources, it might be tempting to have the spouse work in the business but not as an employee.

Can a husband and wife own a LLC?

A husband and wife owning an LLC in a community property state can be considered one owner, or in the case of an LLC, one member and therefore become a disregarded entity as opposed to a partnership. The business activities are then reported on Schedule C of your Form 1040.

What happens if your spouse is a co-owner of a company?

This means that if your spouse is a co-owner, you can’t decide to pay her a minimal wage if you already make enough from your own salary. Her stock distribution may be taxed as income until she reaches the reasonable compensation threshold.

Can a spouse work for a business and not be paid?

In this case, if your spouse works on a day-to-day basis in the business you may decide not to pay a salary to this person in addition to the money received as an owner. Employee or Owner? How the IRS Sees It