Who Benefits From the Tax Advantages of Organizational Form Choice?

We investigate whether and the extent to which four stakeholders of a firm — customers, suppliers, employees, and owners — benefit from the savings under Subchapter S relative to Subchapter C. Using a balanced sample of U.S. commercial banks from 2001–2005, we find that S corporation banks pay 2 percent more in wages and 38 percent more in dividends than C corporation banks, but pay lower interest rates on deposits and charge similar rates on loans. Further, after the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2003 attenuated the relative tax advantage of Subchapter S, we find that S corporation banks increased wages and dividends to a lesser extent than C corporation banks. These results suggest that employees and owners, but not suppliers or customers, benefit from the tax advantages of the Subchapter S organizational form. Overall, our study provides economic insight into which parties ultimately bear — and do not bear — the incidence of corporate taxation.