Estate Tax Planning Trusts: A Comprehensive Guide

The purpose of estate tax planning is to maximize the assets you pass on to future generations by minimizing gift and estate taxes. Estate-tax strategies revolve around the use of...
Read More

Tax Deferral Strategy: Comparing the Big Three

You can defer capital gain taxes with a Charitable Remainder Trust, Opportunity Zone, or Exchange Fund. CRTs get the best returns. Which is right for you?
Read More

Solar Tax Incentives vs. Oil and Gas Well Investments: A Comprehensive Comparison

Taking advantage of solar tax incentives and investing in oil and gas wells are two popular strategies for offsetting ordinary income tax. How do you know which one is right...
Read More

QSBS Stacking Options

The Qualified Small Business Stock exemption, or QSBS, is the best tax break around. As a result of Congress’s push early in the new millennium to encourage Americans to start...
Read More

How Valur Works With Advisors: A Client’s Journey

Valur can help advisors and their clients identify, understand and implement tax and estate-planning trusts to create more wealth.
Read More

What is Section 1244 Stock?

Section 1244 of the United States Internal Revenue Code governs specific special rules applicable to the treatment of particular stock issued by a corporation. Section 1244 stock behaves as debt for federal income tax purposes. Therefore, any gain or loss on the sale or other disposition of section 1244 stock acts as ordinary income or loss rather than capital gain or loss.

Ordinary losses in section 1244 stock are those treated as ordinary income or loss rather than capital gain or loss. That way, all losses from dispositions of section 1244 stock will be deducted from your ordinary income. This is one of the benefits of section 1244 since ordinary losses are deductible in the year of the loss rather than forced to an annual limit.

1244 for Startups and Small Businesses

Section 1244 stock can be advantageous for startups and small businesses because it allows them to deduct any losses from dispositions of the stock from their ordinary income. This can help reduce the amount of taxable income they have and can help them to reduce their overall tax liability.

For example, if a startup has $50,000 in taxable income and incurs a $10,000 loss on selling section 1244 stock, it would reduce its taxable income to $40,000. Therefore, save the startup money on their taxes and help them keep more profits.

How to Qualify for Section 1244

To qualify for section 1244, a domestic corporation must issue the stock. The corporation must also have existed for at least three years and have total assets of $5 million or less at the time the stock is issued. In addition, the corporation cannot have any class of preferred stock outstanding at the time the stock allocates. 

So, to qualify for section 1244 stock, ensure that your corporation meets all of these requirements. If it does, you will be able to deduct any losses from dispositions of the stock from your ordinary income. This section can help reduce your tax liability and keep more of your profits.

Next Steps

Explore our tax planning tools to take the most advantage of your investments. Get started with our calculator. Or access our previous definitions to know more!

About Valur

We built a platform to give everyone access to the tax and wealth-building tools of the ultra-rich like Mark Zuckerberg and Phil Knight. We make it simple and seamless for our customers to take advantage of these hard-to-access tax-advantaged structures so you can build your wealth more efficiently at less than half the cost of competitors. From picking the best strategy to taking care of all the setup and ongoing overhead, we make it easy and have helped create more than $500m in wealth for our customers.

Mani Mahadevan

Mani Mahadevan

Founder & CEO

Mani is the founder and CEO of Valur. He brings deep financial and strategic expertise from his prior roles at McKinsey & Company and Goldman Sachs. Mani earned his degree from the University of Michigan and launched Valur in 2020 to transform how individuals and advisors approach tax planning.