Are shareholder loans to an S corporation used in calculating ownership basis?

[Boca-Gator]

Do loans made to an S-corp by a 55% and a 45% shareholder have to be considered in calculating % ownership basis?  Answered all the questions in Step-by-Step TurboTax for Business and was never asked about the loans; only if they had been repaid. But, I see there is a form for 1120S labeled, "Stock and Loan Basis Information Worksheet" that TT never asked me to fill out.

[Rick19744 · Accepted solution]

In general, loans by S corporation shareholder's will have no impact on ownership.  You do need to make sure that you have a document between the shareholder and company which reflects a fair interest rate.  You also need to make sure that there are loan repayments or the IRS could take a position that the "loan" was really just a capital contribution.

The loans just impact the balance sheet.  What will have tax implications is when there are loan repayments as the interest expense will be reported on the income statement.

The reason TT has the worksheet to complete is the software will attempt to track each shareholder's basis in the S corporation.  I am not sure at what point TT recognizes shareholder loans.  Probably occurs in the shareholder information section.  

I would recommend that each shareholder maintain their own basis schedule as the business software has no idea of what is happening when the shareholder prepares their personal tax return.