Selling S Corp To Alien

[liltax]

Can you sell your corporation to an Alien with a TIN number?

[Koss]

Sale to Alien

This isn't really a tax question.

There may be some tax implications, but the question is phrased in a way that appears to be asking if it is legal to sell a company to an alien.

If there is any legislation that prohibits such a sale, it will not be found in the Internal Revenue Code.

Moreover, an S Corp is a federal tax classification. It is not an entity that is typically recognized under state law. Under state law, it may be a sole prop, a partnership, a corporation, an LLC, or maybe even something else.

Are you selling shares of a genuine corporation, or are you selling assets, or something else?

If your company makes nuclear weapons, or develops encryption technology or something like that, you might want to get some serious legal advice before proceeding with the sale. [LOL]

If your S corp is a barbershop or something, you probably have nothing to worry about.

Insert disclaimer here: I'm not an attorney, and this post is not a professional opinion.

[Bees Knees]

If your S corp is a barbershop or something, you probably have nothing to worry about.

I'm not going to India to get my hair cut.

[BOB W]

A resident Alien can own an S Corp> A non resident Alien cannot.

[veritas]

He can own the corporation

it will just terminate the S Corporation status.

[Koss]

Wow.

Totally forgot about the restrictions on shareholders.

Great catch.

Here's my revised answer to the original question:

The current owners or shareholders of the S corp are not prohibited by law from selling shares in the S corp to a nonresident alien. But once the shares are acquired by a nonresident alien, the S corp will lose its status as an S corp as a result of the acquisition.

Textbook definition of caveat emptor. LMAO

[Koss]

Nintendo Player

Veritas has pretty fast fingers. His post is time-stamped at the same time as mine.

[liltax]

Non resident

Yes, that it was I was trying to understand regarding whom can own an S Corp versus C Corp or LLC, etc. So, all the shareholders in an S Corp must be a resident? Can't one person be a resident and one person be a non resident in a C Corp?

[BOB W]

Yes, that it was I was trying to understand regarding whom can own an S Corp versus C Corp or LLC, etc. So, all the shareholders in an S Corp must be a resident? Can't one person be a resident and one person be a non resident in a C Corp?

Any shareholder of an S Corp cannot be a non-res alien. The Corp would have to be a C Corp. Any existing S Corp would be required to fall back to a C Corp.