if it's always been a corporation, regardless of C or S, retained earnings is generally the net profit or loss reported reduced by a C-Corp dividends or S-Corp distributions for all years in existence. line 24 column d. In many cases if it's always been an S-corp, it's the same number as the AAA account (column a) in the m-2, the exception is that distributions of an s-corp can't reduce the AAA to a negative amount or increase a pre-existing negative amount.
