Choice of Entity for Real Estate Investment
One of the most common questions I get from clients relates to the structure of their potential real estate deals. While almost everyone has heard the age old adage “Never put real estate in a C corporation,” many people seem to see LLCs and S corporations as equally acceptable pass-through alternatives for holding real estate. In reality, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The following will outline five reasons why an LLC is preferable to an S corporation for holding real estate in the current environment.
- Number of shareholders – An S corporation is limited to only 100 shareholders. Under Sec. 1361, members of a family (as defined within the Code) are considered one shareholder for purposes of this 100 shareholder test. Conversely, there is no limit on the number of allowable members of an LLC. While this wouldn’t seem like a major limitation for a majority of property owners, if a taxpayer were interested in syndicating interests in the pass through entity in an effort to raise capital this 100 shareholder cap could significantly limit their ability to do so.
- Type of shareholders – In addition to limiting the number of shareholders to 100, the Internal Revenue Code also limits the types of entities that can be shareholders of an S corporation. For starters, nonresident aliens are not permitted to own stock in an S corporation and certain types of trusts are excluded as shareholders as well. Neither C corporations nor partnerships and other entities taxed as partnerships under the default entity classification rules (multi-member LLCs) may not own shares in an S corporation. With an LLC, any type of entity, domestic or foreign, is a permitted member.
- Only one class of stock – Many investors demand priority returns on their invested capital, as well as a priority return of their invested capital. In an S corporation, it is not possible to offer these benefits to investors. S corporations are only permitted to issue one class of stock. While the rules will permit an S corporation to issue voting and nonvoting stock, it is not possible to provide distribution or liquidation preference to certain shareholders at the expense of others. In an LLC, the allocations of cash are much more flexible and allow for these priority returns so long as the allocations meet the overall requirement of substantial economic effect.
- Basis concerns – Many real estate investments offer losses in early years as a result of the benefits of accelerated depreciation deductions. These noncash deductions shield cash flow from taxation during the early years of the investment and generate losses that are allocable to the shareholders or members. The investors are only permitted to deduct those losses to the extent that they have basis in the pass through entity. I will avoid for now a long detour into the rules of both partnership and S corporation basis, but there is one major difference that is worth highlighting. Shareholders in an S corporation are only deemed to have basis in the pass through entity to the extent of any money invested into the entity and any loans made directly from the shareholder to the pass through entity. In an LLC, members are deemed to have basis for both their contributions into the entity and their ratable share of all liabilities of the entity. This allows members in an LLC to deduct losses in excess of their individual investment to the extent that they are allocable a portion of the liabilities of the entity.
- Basis adjustments – The last way in which the two past through types differ is in the allowable adjustment to basis under IRC Sec. 754. This section of the Internal Revenue Code allows a partnership to adjust the basis of partnership property when there are taxable sales or exchanges of interests or redemptions of a partnership interest. There is no similar adjustment available to shareholders of an S corporation. This adjustment helps to keep a members’ outside basis in his or her partnership interest in line with the partnerships’ basis in the underlying partnership property. Since this opportunity does not exist for an S corporation, an S corporation shareholder can end up with a substantial variance in his or her basis in the S corporation stock, which could generate undesirable income tax consequences.
These five issues should be considered heavily when making a choice of entity. In most cases, one or more of these factors will make the choice of entity obvious. In more cases than not, an LLC will be preferred entity type for real estate investment. With an LLC, there is no cap on the number of shareholder and no limitation on the types of shareholders. In addition, a referred return on capital and a priority return of capital can be provided to investors without the fear of running afoul of the IRC rules. If none of the other issues outlined makes the decision, the optional basis adjustment under Sec. 754 alone can be substantial enough to point to an LLC as the preferred entity type. The Sec. 754 adjustment can provide significant tax advantages to an investor and should be given a good amount of weight in the choice of entity decision.
Authored by Brian Lovett
