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Get your taxes done using TurboTax
The dividend your attorney mentioned is likely meant as a legal term more than as a tax term. For a normal "C" corporation, dividends are taxable to the recipient and not deductible by the corporation, resulting in a double tax. That is not normally the case with an S corporation, that makes distributions to shareholders, as opposed to paying dividends.
For tax purposes, an S Corporation will distribute profits to owners either as a payroll disbursement or shareholder distribution. You are normally required to pay yourself a salary commensurate with the services you provide to the company and its net income for the year. You pay tax on the net business income which includes a deduction for the salary you pay yourself. Then you can take distributions that are not taxed, as long as you don't take out more than your basis, which it your net investment in the company.
Your net income stated on the S Corporation return will not include the interest and dividends you mention, but they will appear on your Schedule K-1 form. As such, you will not need to pay yourself a salary to have them property reported. You can take a distribution equal to your net financial statement income, which will include the interest and dividend income. As long as you don't distribute more than the interest and dividends you should not have a problem with them being taxable as would be the case if you distributed more than your net investment in the business.
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